WiFi peer-to-peer Direct is Go

Wi-Fi Alliance on Monday announced that its direct peer-to-peer networking version of WiFi, called WiFi Direct, is now available on several new WiFi devices. The Alliance is also announcing that it has begun the process of certifying devices for WiFi Direct compatibility.

The organization has already certified a handful of WiFi cards from Atheros, Broadcom, Intel, Ralink, Realtek, and Cisco, as well as the Cisco Aironet 1240 Series access points. These devices will also be used in the test suite to certify that future devices are compatible with the protocol. Any device passing the tests will be designated "Wi-Fi CERTIFIED Wi-Fi Direct."

"We designed Wi-Fi Direct to unleash a wide variety of applications which require device connections, but do not need the internet or even a traditional network," said Edgar Figueroa, CEO of the Wi-Fi Alliance, in a statement. The certification program will ensure compatibility with the standard across a range of devices. WiFi Direct devices can also connect to older "Wi-Fi CERTIFIED" devices for backward compatibility, so chances are your current equipment will work with newer devices using the protocol.

The new protocol allows compatible devices to connect in a peer-to-peer fashion, either one-to-one or in a group, to share data with each other. The Alliance noted that many users carry a lot of data with them on portable devices like smartphones; WiFi Direct will enable users to connect these devices with each other to share that data without the need for a local WiFi network.

Though ad-hoc WiFi and Bluetooth protocols serve similar purposes, WiFi direct offers the longest range and fastest throughput, and includes enterprise-class management and security features.