According to the organisation, the programme will certify devices for use by utilities, city developers, as well as service providers, in order to “simplify and support large-scale, outdoor networks for smart cities, smart utilities and other IoT rollouts.”
Speaking of the rationale behind the initiative, a spokesperson for the organisation said: “The availability of the programme is the result of the vision, collaboration and dedication of a number of Wi-SUN member companies. Through it, we certify products based on their compliance to a communications profile derived from applicable open standards, and their ability to interoperate with other Wi-SUN certified products.”
The spokesperson continued: “Proprietary systems are no longer sufficiently flexible, or as cost-effective, as solutions which are based on open standards. Adhering to the Wi-SUN FAN profile based on open IEEE and IETF standards enables service providers, smart cities and utilities to deploy adaptable, interoperable, multi-service networks.”
Wi-SUN Alliance president and CEO Phil Beecher, said: “Wi-SUN continues to be at the forefront of IoT innovation, and as cities, utilities and the industry grow their IoT networks, they are increasingly recognising that industry-wide open standards are essential for interoperability and scalability.”
The term ‘field area network’ refers to the infrastructure for very large-scale networks communications systems.
