The Facebook-led Telecom Infra Project (TIP) set its sights on Wi-Fi disaggregation this week with the release of OpenWiFi.

The initiative expands the purview of TIP beyond mobile and fixed network infrastructure to one of the most broadly adopted and consistently discouraging technologies of all. Wi-Fi is currently used to connect more than 16 billion devices and it carries the majority of wireless internet traffic globally, according to TIP.

OpenWiFi is a fully disaggregated system spanning access point hardware, an open source access point network operating system, and a software development kit for cloud-native Wi-FI controller applications that can be used by operators and enterprises.

The community of vendors supporting this framework includes more than 100 companies, including operators, original equipment and design manufacturers, independent software vendors, system integrators, chipmakers, and industry organizations.

Multiple Wi-Fi and cellular network operators are testing the platform and planning to collaborate in trials, according to TIP. Hardware and software suppliers are currently building products based on OpenWiFi, and 14 access point designs are now available for indoor and outdoor use, according to TIP. The number of OpenWiFi access points is expected to near 30 before the end of this year.

The OpenWiFi effort is also gaining momentum as Wi-Fi 6, the next version of Wi-Fi technology begins to proliferate in routers and silicon. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) last year allocated 1,200 megahertz of spectrum in the 6 GHz band for unlicensed Wi-Fi use, the largest swath of spectrum approved for Wi-Fi since 1989.

“OpenWiFi is a natural next step, building on the momentum created by TIP’s OpenRAN and Open Optical & Packet Transport (OOPT) initiatives," TIP Executive Director Attilio Zani said in a statement. "OpenWiFi’s cost effective communication infrastructure options will help service providers close the business case for ubiquitous connectivity, using both 5G and Wi-Fi.”

The OpenWiFi model consists of compliant whitebox access points that incorporate OpenWiFi firmware that integrates with OpenWiFi cloud controllers. Wi-Fi equipment makers will be able to add additional services, like security or cloud-based WLAN, in their commercial products.

The OpenWiFi stack also incorporates Wi-Fi meshing, extensible radio resource management, Passpoint, and OpenRoaming, a protocol developed by Cisco that enables zero-touch provisioning and onboarding. Cisco donated the protocol last year as an open industry standard to the Wireless Broadband Alliance.

TIP intends to reduce the total cost of ownership of Wi-Fi by 50% compared to proprietary solutions by removing barriers to entry, accelerating innovation with broad community support, and providing enterprises and operators with more choices overall.

OpenWiFi backers include Boingo, Dell Technologies, Deutsche Telekom, Facebook, Qualcomm, TP-Link, Vodacom, WiFi Alliance, the Wireless Broadband Alliance, and many others. The project is housed under TIP’s Open Converged Wireless group.

TIP plans to release open source hardware designs for Wi-Fi 6E, the branding applied to Wi-Fi 6 devices that operate in the 6 GHz band, later this year.