The Wi-SUN Alliance, an organization focused on advancing open, secure, and interoperable wireless mesh networks for utilities and smart city applications, has announced that the Wi-SUN Field Area Network (FAN) specification has officially been approved as the ISO/IEC/IEEE 32857:2026 standard. This milestone makes Wi-SUN FAN the first wireless mesh networking specification to receive ISO/IEC recognition, offering utilities, cities, and infrastructure providers a globally accepted framework for reliable wireless connectivity. The standardization is expected to influence technology decisions for critical field-area networks, including smart grid systems, municipal infrastructure, and large-scale IoT deployments.
“When a specification carries ISO/IEC recognition, it signals to procurement officials, regulators and policymakers around the world that the technology has been vetted at the highest level,” said Phil Beecher, president and CEO of the Wi-SUN Alliance. “Wi-SUN technology already supports some of the world’s largest utility networks, including nationwide smart metering deployments in Japan and large-scale smart grid projects across North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, demonstrating that the technology is already proven at scale. ISO/IEC/IEEE 32857:2026 gives utilities, municipalities and infrastructure providers an internationally recognized standard they can rely on and reference when planning the next generation of critical infrastructure.”
Only 3% of IEEE-originated specifications achieve ISO/IEC joint recognition, a distinction that reflects both the technical maturity of the Wi-SUN FAN specification and the strength of the open, consensus-based process behind it. For utilities and municipalities, it removes a significant procurement barrier: procurement officers and regulators can now reference an internationally ratified specification when evaluating or mandating smart grid and smart city connectivity solutions, rather than relying on industry-driven documentation alone.
“The Wi-SUN FAN specification was developed through exactly the kind of rigorous, consensus-driven technical process that ISO and IEC look for when evaluating IEEE work for joint adoption,” said Gary Stuebing, Past Chair Entity Collaborative Activities Governance Board, IEEE SA. “What ISO/IEC/IEEE 32857:2026 tells the market is that this specification was built to last — designed with the depth and precision that implementers need to build global interoperable, certifiable solutions at scale.”
The Wi-SUN Alliance provides the definitive testing and certification program for this specification, helping ensure products are compliant and fully interoperable in multi-vendor deployments.
