Standards are the cornerstone of the development of the information industry, and the market is the pillar of standards.
Starting from December 1st, my country has begun to implement new standards for WLAN products. All products that do not meet the new safety standards are prohibited from being imported, manufactured, and sold. This standard is the "Broadband Wireless IP Network Security Technology WAPI", one of the six technological inventions announced by the Ministry of Information Industry on November 27. The previous day, November 26, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine and the National Standardization Administration jointly issued Document No. 110 of 2003 - "Announcement on the Implementation of Mandatory National Standards for Wireless LANs."
Although this WLAN national standard was officially released as early as May 12, and relevant departments held a special WLAN national standard publicity and implementation meeting in July, manufacturing companies represented by American and Japanese companies Businessmen just waited and watched, but did not take it seriously. It was not until the end of November, after the implementation announcement was officially released, that panic started.
The reason why American and Japanese companies are panicking is that these companies are worried that the new standard will inhibit the development of the wireless LAN market. Because of the new policy requirements, all wireless LAN equipment imported into or sold in China must comply with this new encryption standard introduced by the Chinese government that is different from global standards.
Although the new policy provides a six-month grace period for certain products in the small but fast-growing wireless Internet industry, many IT companies in the United States and Japan, such as Intel, Sony, Dell and other companies, have more It is eager to understand the potential impact of the new policy on its business and has mobilized its own industry groups to lobby Chinese and American policymakers on the issue.
The U.S. government and technology companies hope that China will change its decision to use WAPI. Recently visiting U.S. Department of Commerce officials and U.S. Deputy Trade Representative Josette Shiner have mentioned this matter in talks with Chinese regulatory authorities.
The Japan Chamber of Commerce in China has established a special group to study the new standard issue. The group members include Japanese IT companies such as Sony and NEC. Yasunao Komatsu, secretary-general of the Chamber of Commerce, said it is unclear what impact the new standards will have on Japanese IT companies, but the chamber is worried that these companies will not be able to manufacture and sell personal computers in China.
Denis Eaton, chairman of the Wi-Fi Alliance, said that the Wi-Fi Alliance has sent representatives to contact multiple departments of the Chinese government. They are discussing how to understand the new standard and how the Chinese government plans to implement the new standard. Conduct preliminary discussions on other issues. Eaton added that he was not aware of any other countries planning to use the WAPI standard.
These concerns are because this standard has been considered a "new ticket" to enter China's wireless LAN market, and they are even more afraid that China may promote WAPI as an international standard. Liu Chaoyang, head of the Broadband Wireless IP Standards Working Group, the standard drafting group, denied that the launch of this standard was intended to serve as a technical barrier to foreign equipment sellers. He said that China set up its own standards to protect national security because wireless LANs are vulnerable to attacks and existing international standards have various loopholes.
Liu Chaoyang emphasized that the significance of standard implementation is mainly to prevent China's nascent WLAN market from learning lessons from foreign countries. The use of WLAN technology was banned in the 2004 Olympic Games. It can be said that if the security problem is not cured, the hot WLAN market will become another bubble, and this bubble will also endanger the security of our home networks, enterprise informatization, e-government and even national information infrastructure.
Ten years of hard work
With the rapid growth of the wireless LAN market and its application enlightenment in China’s informatization process, the existing international standards for wireless LAN have been improved in terms of security. Many known defects have made wireless security issues increasingly prominent and become the biggest obstacle preventing wireless LANs from entering the information application field. Abroad, the rapid development of the wireless LAN market has brought many new security risks to traditional industries that were the first to apply this new technology, severely restricting the application and promotion of wireless LAN in enterprises, operators, governments and other market fields.
In my country's wireless LAN industry, a variety of technical systems exist. Equipment manufacturers have their own ways of implementing the security performance of wireless LAN equipment. Wireless LAN users cannot obtain truly equivalent security. Due to the security guarantee of the wired Internet, it is also difficult to achieve interoperability and interconnection on the basis of ensuring communication security. Faced with this situation, it is urgent to formulate and introduce national standards for wireless LAN that are in line with my country's national conditions as soon as possible. Wang Changxi, director of the Commercial Cryptography Management Office of the National Cryptography Management Commission, once pointed out that if security issues are not solved, it will be difficult for wireless LAN-related products to be widely used. The most effective way to solve wireless LAN security issues is to use cryptography technology.
In 2001, the Ministry of Information Industry promulgated a document determining that Xi'an Xidian Jietong Wireless Network Communications Co., Ltd., Xi'an University of Electronic Science and Technology, China Electronics Technology Standardization Institute, Xi'an Institute of Posts and Telecommunications and other units will be responsible for the national standards for wireless LAN research and development work. By revising and improving relevant international standards, my country will promote technological innovation in the field of broadband wireless IP technology, protect the existing investment interests of equipment manufacturers and users, enhance the competitiveness of domestic independent intellectual property products, and meet market challenges.
The national standard for wireless LAN took more than two years from drafting to promulgation. During this period, the relevant member units of the "Broadband Wireless IP Standard Working Group" responsible for the drafting of the standard worked under the Ministry of Information Industry's Electronic Information Industry Development Fund, Science and Technology With the strong support of many national projects such as the Ministry of Education 863, the National Development and Reform Commission High-tech Industrialization Demonstration Project, and the National Natural Science Foundation, in line with the principle of openness, starting from the needs of the market and industry, and drawing on foreign successful experiences, we have developed products that are suitable for our country. The standard key technology required for WLAN user interests and industry development - WAPI.
The national standard for wireless LAN is the basic technical specification for wireless LAN media access control and physical layer and its extensions, and one of its extensions The application technical specifications incorporate the country's requirements for cryptographic algorithms and radio frequencies. It is a WLAN standard based on international standards that complies with China's security regulations. Mei Jianping, director of the Information Technology Division of the Department of High-tech Development and Industrialization of the Ministry of Science and Technology, believes that the release of national wireless LAN standards is in line with my country's three major strategies of "talent, patents, and standards" after the WTO. Lou Qinjian, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Information Industry, praised that this is the highest level of technological achievement in the country, basic, advanced, and an extremely urgent and important national standard. It can be said that it has been "sharpened for ten years" and has achieved outstanding results.
WAPI has wide applicability and fully meets the requirements for large-scale commercialization. It has solved the security bottlenecks and information infrastructure security risks of the development of wireless IP industry including WLAN in our country, and has provided services for the government and industry. , enterprises have eliminated obstacles in applying this technology in information construction. It marks that my country's information industry has reached a leading level in the cutting-edge technology field that represents the development direction of the next generation broadband wireless IP network, and in the most critical and basic security technology affecting the industry.
WAPI ends WEP
WLAN national standards will have a profound impact on the current development and pattern of China's WLAN market. According to data from the Broadband Wireless IP Standard Working Group, the WLAN national standard clearly stipulates the transmit power and number of channels of my country's wireless LAN-related products based on my country's radio management regulations. The standard also emphasizes and stipulates the application requirements for wireless LAN security technology. .
These two standards provide technical solutions and normative requirements for the security issues of wireless LAN, based on full consideration and consideration of the interconnection and interoperability of wireless LAN products. The two standards are the WLAN Authentication and Privacy Infrastructure (WAPI) protocol with independent intellectual property rights. They can replace the WEP protocol in international standards. They can solve the security issues that plague the development of the broadband wireless industry and will effectively standardize and guide wireless LAN products and technologies. Application and development in our country. WAPI, the WLAN authentication and confidentiality infrastructure with independent intellectual property rights, has passed the review of relevant agencies authorized by the International Organization for Standardization ISO, and has been awarded the Ethernet model 0x88b4. This is the only Ethernet model obtained by my country in this field.
At the same time, the difference between this standard and the corresponding international standards is mainly reflected in the strict requirements for the security mechanism, that is, the WAPI protocol is used to replace the inherently deficient WEP protocol in the IEEE802.11 standard. Of course, the more important difference is that WAPI will become a mandatory security specification for WLAN products sold in the Chinese market by the end of 2003. IT vendors selling WLAN products in the Chinese market will not have to wait for the still-infancy 802.11i.
At a time when Wi-Fi was still counting on WPA as a transitional security protocol, the promulgation of the WLAN national standard undoubtedly announced the impact of various protocols with known security vulnerabilities, including WPA, 802.1x, and WEP, on the Chinese WLAN market. Out. The Secretary-General of the China Broadband Wireless IP Standardization Working Group pointed out that WAPI, as a WLAN security mechanism recognized and eventually promulgated by the Chinese government, has higher security than current security protocols such as WEP, 802.1x, and WPA.
Su Zhongmin, assistant director of the National Standardization Management Committee of the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, said that the implementation of WLAN national standards is conducive to maintaining stable product performance, thereby promoting the industrialization of technology and the maturity of products. According to the development characteristics of high-tech, premature release of WLAN national standards will hinder the development of technology and industry, but too late release will lead to the dispersion of technology. The timing of the release of this wireless LAN national standard is scientific and artistic.
New industry opportunities
According to a market report from ABI, the number of WLAN "hotspots" in North America has reached 12,400, but the WLAN market in the Asia-Pacific region is expected to have greater stamina. In 2008, it will surpass North America and become the region with the most “hot spots” in the world. Among them, South Korea, Singapore, Japan and other countries have become the forerunners of WLAN in Asia. The Chinese WLAN market also began to warm up in 2003, and its huge market potential is favored by major WLAN equipment and chip manufacturers.
Unlike American and Japanese companies, after the release of the new standard in May this year, European manufacturers such as Philips, Langton Global, and Thomson have expressed their understanding and support for the newly promulgated WLAN national standard. Among them, Wi -Fi members Langton Global and Philips have already stated that they will launch products that comply with national standards as soon as possible. Cisco is also actively applying to join the broadband wireless IP standards working group. Recently, Dell also stated that it will provide products compatible with the WAPI standard after the transition period. Intel said the grace period allowed the company to continue exporting its Cetrino technology products to China. It is indeed necessary for companies to study the requirements and technical characteristics of the new standards in order to better understand the new standards and ensure that the company is moving in the right direction.
Domestic manufacturers regard it as a new opportunity. A Lenovo executive said the new standard would be very helpful to domestic equipment suppliers and a turnaround for domestic sellers that currently lag behind their foreign counterparts. Beijing Liuhe Wantong Microelectronics Technology Co., Ltd., a company that supplies broadband chips to wireless LAN equipment manufacturers, has decided to expand its business to the domestic market due to the release of the new standard. Previously, most of the company's customers were sold overseas. Products of foreign companies, because the new standards will help companies avoid foreign competitors in the domestic market, the company will get a larger market.
As Xu Qin, deputy director of the High-tech Industry Development Department of the National Development and Reform Commission, said, the promulgation of the national wireless LAN standard is of great significance to the development of my country's next-generation network technology. The formulation of the standard has received support from relevant governments. The support of the department will effectively promote the development of the industry, and wireless LAN has a bright future in China.
There is also/this website, go check it out