Architecture is politics.
Udhay (not speaking for my employer)
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/bfcAq655TEYBjU/China-Challenges-Approval-of-Intel-Wireless-Standard.xhtml
China's standards body is crying foul over the rejection of its
wireless encryption technology by the International Standards
Organization (ISO), claiming an alternative from U.S. standards
groups and Intel (Nasdaq: INTC) Latest News about Intel was
railroaded through the international standards procedure.
Reports from China indicate the Chinese standards group is appealing
to the ISO over the rejection of its Wired Authentication and Privacy
Infrastructure, or WAPI, wireless local area network (WLAN)
encryption standard and the approval of the 802.11i standard from the
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Latest News about
IEEE (IEEE) and, chiefly, Intel.
China's complaints were met with some skepticism, and industry
observers doubted whether China's largely "secret" specification
could ever be internationalized.
Red Flag
The Chinese standards agency and the IEEE both applied for ISO
fast-track standardization earlier this year, but the ISO chose to
move forward with the IEEE-Intel solution.
Reports indicate the basis of China's ISO appeal is a contention that
the IEEE broke ISO rules and duped the international standards body
members into approving the U.S. specification.
The ISO signaled it will investigate the claims, according to Chinese reports.
Political Spec
With one-sixth of the world's population, China certainly has the
right to move ahead on its own standards, but the nation is unlikely
to find the world is willing to internationalize its standards given
China's history of building in back doors for government snooping or
censorship, Farpoint Group founder and analyst Craig Mathias told
TechNewsWorld.
"Obviously, there's a political motivation for China to do what they
like, as is their right," he said. "In terms of their standard
becoming the international standard, that's unlikely. There's enough
that's still secret about all they're doing for it to ever become an
international standard."
Mathias described any implications from China that Intel was unfairly
favored as "a red herring."
"It's mostly politics," he said.
No Surprise
The rejection of the Chinese WAPI standard is not a surprise because
the U.S. alternative comes with a family of other 802.11 standards,
and the vote in favor of the 11i standard was a solid one, Yankee
Group Vice President Phil Marshall told TechNewsWorld.
"Voting was overwhelmingly in favor of 11i," he said. "I am not
convinced that this outcome would have been in favor of WAPI had the
ISO process been adopted differently."
Marshall also indicated Intel's dominance in the market may indeed
impact standards, but the company has also helped drive the wireless
industry for all players.
"While Intel may have captured significant market share in WLAN
Latest News about WLAN, its focus towards driving standards through
the IEEE has accelerated the adoption of the technology," he said.
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((Udhay Shankar N)) ((udhay @ pobox.com)) ((www.digeratus.com))
