NGH Special Interest Group (NGHSIG) in Japan

Country's first NGH Roaming Consortium and Hub Operator for Free/City Wi-Fi and eduroam

Since Jan. 31, 2017
Last update: Jan. 2, 2021

Forums

NGHSIG Wiki (in Japanese)
other forums

Expected participants

Roaming Consortia, Telcos, ISPs, Wi-Fi operators, Laboratories, Equipment manufacturers/vendors, Individual developers/engineers, Government organizations, etc.

History and missions

Launched on Jan. 31, 2017 as a BoF meeting
Push forward dot1X adoption and Hotspot 2.0/Passpoint/NGH deployment in Japan to make Public Wi-Fi systems secure and convenient.
Exchange and accumulate technical information about RADIUS, roaming, and Hotspot 2.0.
Provide an NGH testbed for development and pilot services.
Develop inter-roaming architecture and a prototype system.
Survey on legal aspects and develop rules.
... etc.

Projects

WBA OpenRoaming (May 2020 - )

City Wi-Fi Roaming 2018 (Oct. 1 - Nov. 30, 2018)
City Wi-Fi Roaming 2017 (June 20 - Aug. 20, 2017)
Cityroam (Secure Wi-Fi Roaming) (please see below)
Development of off-campus eduroam services.
Development of eduroam services at conference sites.

Cityroam (Secure Wi-Fi Roaming)

>>portal site

Cityroam is the first and only Passpoint-based Roaming Federation for Free/Public Wi-Fi in Japan. Cityroam aims at providing people with easy and secure Wi-Fi accesses by adopting Passpoint/NGH, connecting as many operators in the world as possible, and enabling Wi-Fi roaming.

If a user has got a SIM card from a telco providing roaming service with us, the phone can be automatically and securely connected to the access points of the Cityroam. The same is possible if a user has got a Wi-Fi access subscription by a partner ISP.

The achievements of Cityroam/NGHSIG can be found here.

Connected IdPs

WBA OpenRoaming (pilot phase) New!
Some telecom operators and ISPs in the world. (pilot phase)
eduroam
ANYROAM
Cityroam/NGHSIG Cloud IdP System
GlobalReach Odyssys Hotspot 2.0 Signup & Provisioning Service
(Demonstration purpose only. Service is available at some limited sites.)
~~WBA City Wi-Fi Roaming~~ (available only during the trial; 2017 & 2018)

Achievements

Cityroam by NGHSIG has achieved the following so far:

Affordable secure Public Wi-Fi for people, affordable secure roaming platform for Wi-Fi operators.
World's first integration of eduroam with NGH, allowing academic users getting on NGH-based Free Wi-Fi in various cities using the users' eduroam credentials.
This scheme is expected to have a huge impact in the societies' supports for Research and Education.
Inter-federation roaming architecture connecting ``multi-realm'' federations.
(NGHSIG has made it sure to actually work by submitting comments to the industry.)
Country's first NGH hub accommodating Wi-Fi operators in a wide range of scales.
Our roaming scheme allows small/mid-sized operators to join domestic/international roaming systems much easier and to gain good business opportunities comparable with big operators. It also provides an easy roaming service for temporary eduroam/Cityroam services at various conferences/events.
Affordable managed Public Wi-Fi for a wide range of venues from conference sites, shopping malls, train stations, hotels, and to even small shops like cafes/bars.
etc.

Publications / Presentations

NGHSIG Headquarter: Cloud Service Infrastructure Lab., Cyberscience Center, Tohoku University, Japan
Excutive secretary: Hideaki Goto, Tohoku University
Deputy secretary: Jun Yamaguchi, Globalsight Ltd.