White Papers
Wi-Fi CERTIFIED Wi-Fi Direct™: Personal, portable Wi-Fi® technology (2010)
Wi-Fi CERTIFIED Wi-Fi Direct™ devices can connect in a way that makes it more simple and convenient than ever for users to print, share, sync and display. Wi-Fi Direct devices can connect directly to one another without access to a traditional network, so mobile phones, cameras, printers, PCs, and gaming devices can connect to each other directly to transfer content and share applications anytime and anywhere. Devices can make a one-to-one connection, or a group of several devices can connect simultaneously. They can connect for a single exchange, or they can retain the memory of the connection and link together each time they are in proximity.
Around the globe, people are creating, storing, accessing and sharing more songs, videos, pictures and documents than ever before. Millennials in the US, people between the ages of 18-29, have on average 2400 songs, videos and pictures stored on digital devices. That growing number is echoed by their peers in China, Japan and Korea. They are used to gathering around a single digital camera to look at pictures with friends and family, or around a single handheld or laptop screen to watch videos. Now Wi-Fi Direct products allow them to connect directly with each others' devices to share those pictures, games and video, or display them on a nearby monitor or TV for easy viewing.
The introduction of the Wi-Fi Alliance Peer-to-Peer Specification and certification testing program dramatically expands peer-to-peer connectivity for consumers by introducing an interoperable technology with distinctive new features. In a recent study, US consumers revealed that they would most want to use direct connections for instant messaging, sharing pictures with friends and family, displaying those pictures from a portable device to a monitor or TV screen, video chatting, and playing video games with others while not at home, such as when using public transit. Consumers in China, Japan, and Korea said the same.
This white paper is describes Wi-Fi Peer-to-Peer technology (P2P). Wi-Fi CERTIFIED™ devices implementing this technology will bear the certification mark Wi-Fi CERTIFIED Wi-Fi Direct™. A technical description of the technology can be found in the Wi-Fi Alliance Peer-to-Peer Specification.
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