Milestones, Innovation and the Future of OpenWiFi

Join us at Wispapalooza in Las Vegas as we chat with Jack Raynor, Senior Technology Consultant at Meta and Chair of OpenLAN and OpenWiFi.

Jack discusses achieving a major milestone of 100,000 deployed devices in the OpenLAN ecosystem, with plans to reach 150,000 by year-end. He highlights how the community-driven model fosters innovation and supports diverse deployments across industries like student housing, military barracks, and stadiums.

Jack addresses security concerns, explaining OpenWiFi’s robust architecture, adherence to industry standards, and use of Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) for encrypted communication. He also shares insights for WISPs and ISPs transitioning to OpenWiFi, emphasizing its flexibility, open architecture, and community support.

Looking ahead, Jack unveils plans for Wi-Fi 7 readiness and other features to keep OpenWiFi innovative. He also highlights the vital role of EPS Global in driving adoption through streamlined distribution, supply chain organization, and global reach.

Transcript of Podcast

?Alan: We're coming to the end of the second day at Wispapalooza here in Las Vegas, and I'm delighted to be joined by Jack Raynor who is a senior technology consultant with Meta and he's the chair of the OpenLAN and OpenWiFi. So first of all Jack, thanks a lot for taking the time to sit with us.

Jack: Thank you for offering me the time.

Alan:?We're going to talk about OpenWiFi and OpenLAN and I understand that you reached a significant milestone quite recently, could you tell me about it?

Jack: We've recently crossed 100,000 deployed devices in the OpenLAN ecosystem including the access points and switches. And actually, we're kind of steamrolling right now. We're heading toward 150 by the end of the year (2024) as our target.

Alan: So that adoption is accelerating.

Jack: It's accelerating. It'll be much quicker to the second 100,000.

Alan: Exactly. That's great to hear. Congratulations. So how is the community driven development piece of OpenWiFi contributed to the innovation in Wi-Fi technology?

Jack: The community-driven development process contributes to WiFi innovation in two significant ways. First, it fundamentally transforms how features are developed compared to traditional funded product teams. In our platform's approach, feature development begins with a community member documenting and proposing an idea in an open forum. This initiates a collaborative discussion where other community members, each bringing their unique perspectives and use cases, help refine and enhance the original concept. Through this collective dialogue, we develop features that address a broader spectrum of market needs than might be possible in a conventional development environment. The second key advantage stems from how we've structured our base platform, which we sometimes refer to as the 'plumbing.' By establishing these foundational elements through community-based development, we've created what amounts to table stakes functionality. This means our community members who build products on this stack don't need to dedicate substantial resources to developing these standard components. Instead, they can focus their efforts and resources on creating truly innovative features that build upon this established foundation. This approach enables them to push the boundaries of what's possible rather than repeatedly implementing basic functionality.

Alan: While we're highlighting OpenWiFi's applications in MDU (Multi-Dwelling Units) and hospitality during this event, I understand your deployments have made significant impacts across many different vertical markets. Could you elaborate on the breadth and diversity of these implementations?

Jack: What has been truly remarkable about our growth is the extraordinary diversity of our deployments, particularly from a geographic perspective. We've established a presence on virtually every continent - Antarctica being the lone exception. This global reach is matched by an equally impressive variety of use cases, including:

• Student housing facilities
• Military barracks
• Industrial environments
• Traditional office spaces
• Large-scale venues like stadiums

What makes this diversity particularly notable is that we've achieved such broad implementation despite being a relatively small player in the market. The breadth of our deployments across both geography and sectors demonstrates the versatility and adaptability of our solution.

Alan: So it sounds like?OpenWiFi can be effectively deployed in essentially any environment that requires Wi-Fi connectivity?

Jack: Anywhere where you have you know Wi-Fi needs and enterprise features required, we're gonna be a player there.

Alan: Okay, great. Security is consistently a critical concern, particularly in large-scale deployments. Could you explain how OpenWiFi addresses these security challenges?

Jack: That's actually a really interesting question, because it addresses a common misconception among people who are new to OpenWiFi. When they hear 'Open WiFi,' they sometimes assume it means the system lacks security measures. In fact, 'open' refers to our open source foundation - it's an open source stack. We address security comprehensively in three primary ways: First, we fully comply with industry 802.11 standards and related security protocols. This includes implementation of WPA2, WPA3, EAP, and similar technologies - essentially adhering to all industry-established security standards. Second, from an architectural perspective, we've built additional security layers on top of WPA2 and WPA3, incorporating MPSK and RADIUS for enterprise-grade security. A key component of our architecture is our PKI (Public Key Infrastructure) platform. Through this system, every manufactured device in the OpenWiFi ecosystem receives a globally trusted unique certificate. Similarly, every server in our ecosystem has its own globally unique, trusted server certificate. This dual-certificate system ensures two crucial things: only authentic OpenWiFi/OpenLAN devices can operate within the ecosystem, and all client-server communications remain encrypted at all times. Third, we've built our system on open source standards, starting with Linux at the foundation. This allows us to continuously update our security stack with the latest patches and security enhancements. This multilayered approach ensures robust security across our entire ecosystem while maintaining the benefits of open source architecture.

Alan: For WISPs and other service providers considering a migration from traditional proprietary solutions to OpenWiFi, what support and resources does TIP provide to facilitate this transition?

Jack: TIP, and specifically our project, facilitates this transition through two key approaches. First, through our architecture, which is built on open APIs and designed for flexibility. Second, through our community-driven development model. From the community perspective, we offer diverse solutions to accommodate the unique needs of WISPs and ISPs. Some providers require a complete end-to-end stack, while others might only need specific components. Our community's varied offerings and flexible architecture ensure that service providers can adopt exactly what they need, making the transition process more manageable and customizable to their specific requirements.

Alan: Looking ahead to the future, Jack, what are the key features and improvements on the roadmap for OpenWiFi and OpenLAN?

Jack: Like most of the industry, we're actively developing our WiFi 7 capabilities. This represents a significant evolution in our development journey. During the early stages of OpenWiFi, we were working to achieve feature parity with industry incumbents. Now that we've reached that milestone and are fully feature-compatible, we're moving forward in parallel with the rest of the industry. Our next three releases will focus on implementing various WiFi 7 feature sets, along with AFC (Automated Frequency Coordination) for both standard power indoor and outdoor use cases.

Alan: I'm going to?finish up with a question about EPS global. ?Given our multi-year partnership, could you elaborate on our collaborative relationship and how EPS Global's efforts are contributing to accelerating OpenWiFi adoption?

Jack: EPS plays an absolutely vital role in our operations, particularly in addressing three key challenges that arise with an open, disaggregated white box platform: First, you solve the critical challenge of market access. With our diverse ecosystem of over 80 SKUs of access points from 10 different ODMs, getting these devices to market efficiently is complex. EPS helps establish the necessary partnerships and create the pathways that enable our current rapid growth. Number two, you guys bring organization to what could otherwise become a chaotic supply chain. With such a wide variety of devices and combinations, EPS provides the crucial service of creating order and coherence in our supply chain management. You effectively piece together all the different components of our ecosystem. Finally, EPS brings tremendous value through their established industry reputation as a trusted supplier of open networking platforms. Their global reach and respected position in the market significantly enhances our ability to expand and serve customers worldwide.

Alan: That's great. Appreciate the feedback Jack and you know, thanks a lot for spending the time with us.

Glossary of Terms

• AFC (Automated Frequency Coordination): A system that manages access to the 6 GHz band for standard-power devices in Wi-Fi 6E and Wi-Fi 7, ensuring they don't interfere with incumbent users.EAP (Extensible Authentication Protocol): A framework for authentication that supports multiple authentication methods in wireless networks.
• MDU (Multi-Dwelling Unit): A classification of housing where multiple separate housing units are contained within one building or several buildings within a complex.
• MPSK (Multi Pre-Shared Key): A security feature that allows multiple pre-shared keys to be used on a single wireless network, enabling unique passwords for different users or devices.
• ODM (Original Design Manufacturer): Companies that design and manufacture products that are then rebranded by other firms for sale.
• OpenLAN: An open-source initiative for local area networking equipment and solutions.
• OpenWi-Fi: An open-source Wi-Fi architecture and implementation that provides enterprise-grade wireless networking capabilities.
• PKI (Public Key Infrastructure): A framework for managing digital certificates and public-key encryption, used to secure communications between devices and servers.
• RADIUS (Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service): A networking protocol that provides centralized Authentication, Authorization, and Accounting (AAA) management for users who connect to a network.
• Wi-Fi 7: The next generation of Wi-Fi technology (802.11be), offering higher speeds, lower latency, and improved performance compared to previous generations.
• WISP (Wireless Internet Service Provider): A company that provides wireless Internet access to customers, typically in areas where traditional wired infrastructure is limited.
• WPA2 (Wi-Fi Protected Access 2): A security protocol and security certification program developed by the Wi-Fi Alliance to secure wireless computer networks.
• WPA3 (Wi-Fi Protected Access 3): The latest version of the Wi-Fi Protected Access protocol, offering improved security features and protection compared to WPA2.