China grants WLAN technology rights to more companies

[InfoSec News <isn () c4i org>]

http://www.nwfusion.com/news/2004/0106chinagrant.html

By Sumner Lemon and Henry Lee
IDG News Service, 01/06/04

The Chinese government has granted licensing rights for the security
protocol at the heart of China's national WLAN standard to nine more
companies, a spokeswoman for the State Encryption Management Committee
said Tuesday.

Called GB15629.11-2003, the Chinese WLAN standard is very similar to
the IEEE's 802.11 standard, commonly known as Wireless Fidelity or
Wi-Fi, but it uses a different security protocol developed locally,
called WAPI, or WLAN Authentication and Privacy Infrastructure.

"Because the 802.11 or Wi-Fi standard is not so secure, a more secure
standard is needed for WLAN," said Li Jie, a spokeswoman at SEMC's
Liaison Office.

The Chinese WLAN standard took effect on Dec. 1, 2003, although a
transition period has been granted for certain WLAN products that
extends the compliance deadline to June 1. Vendors that want to sell
WLAN gear in China must comply with the new standard by that date.

The implementation of the standard has caused consternation among
U.S.-based industry groups, including the U.S. Information Technology
Office and Wi-Fi Alliance, over questions of interoperability with
Wi-Fi and regulations requiring foreign WLAN equipment makers to enter
into coproduction agreements with Chinese companies that have been
granted the rights to license the technology.

Initially, the rights to license WAPI were granted to 11 Chinese
companies: Legend Group Ltd., Huawei Technologies, Shenzhen Mingwah
Aohan High Technology, Wuxi Jiangnan Computer Technology Research
Institute, Shanghai Koal Software, Shenzhen ZTE IC Design, SDT Telecom
Group, Chengdu Westone Information Industry, China IWNCOMM, Shenyang
Neusoft and Beijing Watch Data System.

That list has now been expanded to around 20 companies, Li said. The
names of the latest companies to be granted licensing rights for WAPI
have not yet been made public and will be released at a later date,
she said.

While any Chinese company that has been approved to produce commercial
encryption products can apply for the rights to license WAPI, the
Chinese government will not grant licensing rights to foreign
companies, Li said. Existing regulations do not permit foreign
companies to have access to commercial encryption technology used in
China, she said.

Chinese companies have been granted the rights to license WAPI at no
cost, Li said. However, foreign companies will be charged by their
coproduction partners to integrate WAPI into their WLAN gear, she
said.

USITO has expressed concerns that the requirement for foreign vendors
to enter into coproduction agreements could put them at a disadvantage
to their Chinese competitors. In addition, Wi-Fi Alliance has noted
that a Chinese WLAN standard that is not compatible with 802.11 could
lead to higher prices for Chinese end users and create
interoperability problems.

"This will add cost to end users but considering the higher safety the
new standard provides, it is acceptable," Li said.

Henry Lee is an editor at China Computerworld, an IDG News Service
affiliate.



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