1. What is WAPI?
WAPI is the abbreviation of WLAN authentication and privacy infrastructure. Like infrared ray, Bluetooth, GPRS, CDMA 1X and other protocols, it is a wireless transmission protocol, but different from them, it is a wireless local area network (WLAN) transmission protocol, similar to the current 802.6438+05438+0B transmission protocol. So, why should we formulate the standard of transmission protocol? As we know, different transmission protocols transmit data packets between two or more electronic devices in different principles and ways, and most of them are incompatible. If the standard of wireless transmission protocol is not established, the universality of wireless electronic equipment will be greatly limited. For example, your laptop may be able to access the Internet wirelessly in place A, but when you go to place B, you may not be able to access the Internet wirelessly because of inconsistent transmission protocols. If all wireless products use the same transmission protocol, your laptop can easily surf the Internet wirelessly as long as there is WLAN signal.
2. What's the difference between 2.WAPI and the current 802. 1 1B?
There are many transmission protocols for WLAN, including 802. 1 1A, 802. 1 1B, 802.1g, etc. Among them, 802. 1 1B is the most popular and popular. At present, most wireless network products, including Centrino and Lenovo's latest Lenovo computers, adopt the transmission protocol of 802. 1 1B, which is formulated and certified by American non-profit organization Wi-Fi, while WAPI is approved by IEEE registration agency authorized by ISO/IEC. They belong to different institutions, so their nature is naturally different. The biggest difference lies in the different technologies of security encryption: WAPI uses a security protocol called "Wireless LAN Authentication and Privacy Infrastructure (WAPI)", while 802. 1 1B uses a security protocol called "Wired Enhanced Equivalent Privacy (WEP)".
Third, why should China formulate WAPI standards?
1, for security reasons. We know that state secrets are top secret, and if leaked, it will directly harm the interests of the whole country and nation, with disastrous consequences. But for WLAN, the security is very fragile, because most of the current wireless network products adopt 802. 1 1B as the wireless transmission protocol. The advantage of this protocol is that the transmission rate can reach 1 1M, which is similar to wired LAN, and the coverage area reaches 100m. But "there is nothing wrong with success and failure." It is its fast transmission speed and wide coverage that makes it very fragile in terms of security. Because the data is exposed to the air during transmission, it is easy to be intercepted by people with ulterior motives. 3COM, Annette and other foreign manufacturers have made a series of security solutions for 802. 1 1B, but overall, they are not satisfactory, and the core technology is in the hands of other countries. Since they can make it, they must have a way to crack it, so in terms of security, they have become government and commercial users using WLAN. WAPI is not afraid of foreigners using WLAN to steal state or commercial secret information, because the relevant departments in China have mastered the core encryption technology. And its encryption technology is more advanced than 802.11b. WAPI adopts the public key cryptosystem elliptic curve encryption algorithm and the key cryptosystem block encryption algorithm approved by the Office of the National Cryptography Management Committee, and realizes the identity authentication, link verification, access control and encryption protection of user information in wireless transmission. In addition, WAPI can be divided into single-point and centralized application modes, which can completely reverse the coexistence and incompatibility of various security mechanisms adopted by WLAN and fundamentally solve the security and compatibility problems. Therefore, it is more effective to protect data security in China by forcing relevant commercial organizations to implement WAPI standards.
2. For the benefit. China is a developing country with booming economy, and many products have huge development space, especially high-tech products. However, in the past, China lost many opportunities in high-tech products. At that time, there were few products with independent core technologies and their own industry standards, which caused a rather passive situation: DVD was charged a lot of patent fees by foreigners, and GPRS and CDMA 1X standards were in the hands of foreigners. We can only obediently give others a large sum of money to buy their standards, and we are like workers who "work" for others and have to do it. So some people say that "first-class enterprises sell standards, second-rate enterprises sell technology, and third-rate enterprises sell products".
However, now is the opportunity. WLAN (Wireless Local Area Network) is a new thing in China, which is developing rapidly. Looking at the sales of Centrino notebook computers with integrated wireless modules, it seems good. The author conducted a survey of notebook computers on a well-known product shopping guide website, and found that Centrino notebook computers have the most varieties, reaching 14 pages, followed by P4-M, 10 pages, P-M 3 pages and P4 2 pages. However, there are only over 800 WLAN hotspots in China at present. Although there are not many users using WLAN, the growth rate is relatively fast. Therefore, WLAN has great market potential in China. Our country has now formulated its own WLAN transmission protocol standard, which will gain huge economic benefits in the long run. In addition, some domestic enterprises have benefited a lot from WAPI, because the encryption technology of WAPI standard that all WLAN devices sold in China must follow has been transferred to 1 1 domestic manufacturers including Lenovo, Huawei and Neusoft, which means that foreign manufacturers must find this 165438+ if they want to enter China.
4. What benefits will 4.WAPI bring to individual users?
For individual users, the biggest advantage of WAPI is to make their laptops safer from now on, because WLAN is completely exposed in mid-air when transmitting data, and the signal coverage is wide. If the security is not good, the data of legitimate users can be easily intercepted and cracked by illegal users. At the same time, illegal users can also pretend to be legal users and use network resources with legal users, so that the interests of legal users suffer losses. Take North America as an example, where WLAN based on 802. 1 1B is very popular. Many computer experts try to intercept and crack the wireless signals of legitimate users with cans, so as to enjoy the network resources of legitimate users for free. What's even more frightening is that illegal users can also use WLAN to steal data from legal users' laptops, thus causing them big or small losses (if information such as account numbers and passwords are stolen, the consequences will be more serious).
In addition, the interconnection between devices is a problem that operators must consider. At present, although many manufacturers claim that their products have passed the wi-fi compatibility test, the security solutions proposed and adopted by different manufacturers are different. For example, Annette (AT-WR241KLOC-0/Wireless Network Card) provides a multi-level security system, including spread spectrum coding and encryption technology. Security information is encrypted by 40 and 128 bits wired equivalent privacy (WEP). However, if 3Com's wireless network card is used with 3Com 1 1 Mbps wireless LAN access point 6000, advanced dynamic secure link technology can be used, which will automatically generate a 128-bit encryption key for each session, which is different from the key sharing scheme of * * *. In this way, due to the lack of a unified security solution standard, different WLAN devices can't communicate with each other when the security function is enabled, which will cause the equipment management of operators to be extremely complicated, and it is necessary to develop different user management functions for different security solutions, which will greatly increase the operation and maintenance costs and be detrimental to the protection investment. However, users cannot roam between different security APS (access points), which will reduce customer satisfaction and often lead to equipment compatibility problems for users.
5. Does 5.WAPI comply with WTO regulations?
The answer is yes. The Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (WTO/TBT), an important agreement of the World Trade Organization, stipulates that WTO members can modify or formulate their own new technical regulations, standards and other relevant documents in order to achieve legitimate goals such as national security, health and environmental protection, on the premise of meeting the relevant standards and international norms of the General Agreement of the WTO. As we all know, WAPI aims at strengthening the security of wireless networks and conforms to the above rules of WTO.
6. How much impact did the introduction of WAPI standard in China have internationally?
China officially released WAPI on May 6th, 2003. In order to let the industry know about the new standards to be implemented in China, eight ministries and commissions, including the Ministry of Information Industry and the National Standards Committee, jointly held a massive publicity and promotion activity in Beijing in July 2003, which should be said to be rare in the history of national standards formulation. However, at that time, few people paid attention to this new standard, especially multinational companies closely related to this standard. Until recently, WAPI has attracted widespread attention, of course, because multinational companies have not paid enough attention to China standards and have not taken them seriously. It was not until WAPI, which concerns their vital interests, was about to be enforced that they really felt the pressure and paid attention to it.
The reason why WAPI is really widely concerned is that three major government departments in China issued two announcements in just five days:165438+1On October 26th, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine of China and the National Standardization Administration Committee issued the Announcement on Implementing the Compulsory National Standard for WLAN; 65438+February 1, CNCA responded to the previous announcement that "WLAN products will be subject to compulsory certification from June 1 2004".
On February 4th, 65438, The Wall Street Journal reported that "China's encryption standard of wireless technology caused panic in the industry", which caused more and more media reports.
On February 9th, 65438, Paul Nikolich, a former international standard maker of wireless networks and a member of IEEE802 and MAN Standards Committee, sent a letter to Li Zhonghai, director of China Standardization Management Committee, and Wang Xudong, Minister of Information Industry, warning that "the implementation of the new standards will have a huge impact on the wireless network product market and split the global market in two; Moreover, restricting the sales of products based on the 802. 1 1 standard in China will narrow the choice of users when purchasing products, thus increasing the cost of wireless network equipment. "
Different from the collective silence of multinational companies in July, European manufacturers such as Philips, Langtong Global, Thomson and so on. They have shown kindness to the China Municipal Government, saying that they will "understand and support the new national standard of WLAN in China" and that they will launch products that meet the standards as soon as possible. Meanwhile, Dell began to get busy. "Dell is setting new standards." A senior official of Dell China said that it is expected that at the end of the six-month grace period, the company will suspend the delivery of products affected by this policy to China.
In addition, according to Dennis Eaton, chairman of the Wi-fi Alliance, the Wi-fi Alliance has also sent representatives to contact various departments of the China municipal government, and they are having a preliminary discussion on how to understand the new standards and how the China municipal government plans to implement them.
7. What resistance did 7.WAPI encounter in the promotion process?
The United States is the largest supplier of wireless network products. At present, most brands of wireless network products sold in China market are American, such as 3COM, Cisco, Trend, Avaya and so on. Therefore, the implementation of WAPI standards will have the greatest impact on the interests of the United States. Because according to the standard, foreign network equipment suppliers must obtain WAPI agreement license through the production cooperation agreement with one of the 1 1 China companies (including Lenovo and Huawei) designated by China government, while domestic companies in China competing with foreign network equipment suppliers do not need to obtain WAPI license like foreign companies. Therefore, if foreign network equipment suppliers can't find a partner in China, they may be blocked out of the WLAN product market in China, which is a very unfavorable situation for foreign (mainly American) network equipment suppliers. Therefore, the biggest resistance to the introduction of WAPI in China comes from the United States. Not only did the United States send people to lobby China to give up this standard, but its government also intervened in this debate.
But will China compromise? The author thinks "no" because we have missed many opportunities to dominate the high-tech field. Now, WLAN is a great opportunity. If China misses it again, I'm afraid it's really hard to "turn over". And we have had enough of our own standards and core technologies before. Therefore, the author thinks that China will not give up this standard, but it is foreseeable that there will be more and more similar standards.
8. Will 8.WAPI make your Centrino notebook unable to "Centrino"?
As we all know, Intel's Centrino notebook has the advantages of low efficiency and wireless Internet access without reducing its performance. However, Intel didn't take inefficiency as the main selling point in its publicity, but took its wireless function as the main selling point, and launched the slogan of "wireless you are unlimited", and spent huge sums of money to promote this "selling point". However, before this, notebook and PDA manufacturers have integrated them into their products by equipping them with cheap wireless network cards and corresponding chipsets. Ignoring this fact, Intel forced manufacturers to use their Centrino chips instead of providing wireless chipsets to manufacturers to promote their wireless services.
So, is Centrino's wireless module really better than the third-party products provided by professional wireless manufacturers? The answer is obvious. As Sanders, chairman of AMD and chairman of American Semiconductor Association, pointed out sharply, Centrino's fundamental purpose is to confuse "real innovation", try to control all components of PC architecture, and continue to impose inferior technology on partners and users in the future. It can be seen that Intel obviously took a fancy to the huge potential market of wireless local area network in China before making this "bet".
At present, Centrino notebooks have been widely sold in China, and the WAPI standard is not compatible with 802. 1 1B adopted by Centrino. The introduction of WAPI standard will undoubtedly have a great impact on the sales of Centrino notebooks. Although the representative of Intel pointed out that Centrino technology of notebook computers can meet this requirement within the time limit, because its Centrino products can be shipped continuously until June, we are contacting the industry and the China Municipal Government to learn more about the transition. However, how does Intel solve this problem? So far there is no answer.
So after June next year, your Centrino notebook will be useless? The answer is no, because the state stipulates that it is forbidden to produce, sell and import non-WAPI wireless network products after June next year, but it does not say that it is forbidden to use these products. Most wireless network products still adopt the same 802.6438+0 1B protocol as Centrino. However, the WAPI standard has just been implemented. It is estimated that it will take at least one year for WAPI products to go on the market, and most WLAN hotspots will not replace existing equipment with WAPI products immediately. Therefore, the author believes that even if Intel fails to solve the WAPI problem well, your Centrino notebook will normally use its wireless Internet access function for at least the next year and a half.
Nine, WAPI is coming, which laptops should not be bought?
1, try to buy a non-Centrino laptop. Centrino notebook computer uses 802. 1 1B wireless transmission protocol, which is not compatible with WAPI wireless transmission protocol enforced by commercial organizations in China. That is to say, after all wireless network devices in China adopt WAPI transmission protocol, Centrino laptops may not be able to access the Internet wirelessly. Therefore, I do not recommend consumers to buy Centrino laptops before Intel solves the WAPI problem.
Of course, if you have a soft spot for Centrino technology, I suggest you buy a notebook computer with Pentium M, chipset (855 series) and Centrino technology processor. In this way, you can get the advantages of low efficiency, low calorific value and power saving of Centrino notebook computer, and it is not limited by its wireless Internet transmission protocol, and the price is cheaper.
2. Try not to buy a laptop with a WLAN card. At present, there are usually two kinds of notebook computers with wireless network cards on the market: one is with wireless LAN cards, which generally adopts the transmission protocol of 802+05438+0b; One is with wireless WAN card, which generally adopts GPRS wireless transmission protocol. For the first laptop with wireless network card, I don't recommend buying it, because they also use the wireless transmission protocol of 802. 1 1B, just like Centrino notebook. So the consequences of buying this laptop with a wireless network card are the same as those of buying a Centrino laptop.
For the second notebook computer with wireless WAN card, it is not affected by WAPI, because GPRS is the transmission protocol of wireless WAN, which is different from the transmission protocol of wireless LAN, so it will be very different to use. Unlike WLAN, wireless WAN does not require users to build their own network, or it can only be used when there are WLAN hotspots. It is usually provided with signals and services by wireless carriers. For example, GPRS is provided with signals and services by China Mobile in China. GPRS covers a wide range, and most cities in China can receive its signals, but the transmission rate is relatively slow, which is similar to that of ordinary 56KMODEM.
Ten, WAPI is coming, how should you use your laptop?
Because WAPI is not compatible with the current mainstream 802. 1 1B wireless network equipment (such as AP, wireless router, etc. ), it is suggested not to set up a wireless local area network (WLAN) for this period of time, and wait for a while to see if the existing wireless network equipment suppliers can solve the compatibility problem with WAPI well, because if not, it will take some time for the wireless network equipment you buy now.
XI。 Is WAPI too "doting" on domestic enterprises?
We know that international industrial standards are generally formulated by enterprises or other non-governmental organizations. For example, the familiar USB standard was formulated by Intel, Bluetooth was formulated by Ericsson, and 802. 1 1B was formulated and certified by the non-profit organization Wi-Fi. Therefore, it can be said that the formulation of industry standards should be a market behavior rather than a national behavior, but now China uses policies to enforce it. Moreover, domestic related enterprises can enjoy some preferential treatment. Therefore, some people worry that WAPI will lead the government to spoil high-tech enterprises in China, so that these enterprises will lose the motivation and pressure of competition, and eventually lead to the retrogression or stagnation of WLAN industry in China. The author believes that such concerns have some truth, but some are alarmist. Because China enterprises are still weak compared with large multinational companies such as Microsoft and Intel, it is difficult to win if they deliver goods directly one-on-one. It is necessary and important for the government to give certain support policies. WAPI is only a standard, which will not have a great impact on the development of enterprises, and China enterprises will not benefit much from it, so it is not "doting" or "protecting".