WiFi Momentum Continues — WBA Holds Global Summit

Just concluding today is the WiFi Global Summit in San Francisco, hosted by the Wireless Broadband Alliance.

Billed as the world’s largest carrier-grade WiFi event, the Summit was very successful.  More than 400 people attended; all the sessions were well attended, with many of them packed; and feedback was positive.

Attendees included industry analysts, media, leading telcos, Wi-Fi and cable operators, roaming hub providers and vendors.  The attendance and feedback underscored the growing importance and visibility of WiFi from both the service provider and enterprise perspectives.

Cisco’s Kelly Ahuja delivered one of the keynotes, and other Cisco people participated.

Also exciting from our perspective was that Cisco won two awards, and a key partner – BT – earned one.

Cisco, with its partner operator True (Thailand) won for:

Best Next-Generation Hotspot (NGH) Initiative Award

Cisco also won for:

Best Wi-Fi Technology Innovation Award (vendors) . . . for the Cisco Aironet 3600 Next-Generation Design

BT won for Most Innovative Hotspot Venue, as the operator ensured that the whole of London was connected during the 2012 Olympic Games.   The BT system is based significantly on Cisco solutions.

Much more to come from Cisco on the WiFi front . .