Wireless network technology is now an international standard, helping utilities and smart cities use one common system for building connected networks.
The Wi-SUN Alliance has announced that its Wi-SUN Field Area Network (FAN) specification has been ratified as ISO/IEC/IEEE 32857:2026, making it the first wireless mesh networking specification to become an ISO/IEC standard. The certification gives utilities, municipalities, and infrastructure operators an internationally recognized standard for deploying wireless mesh networks in smart grid and smart city applications.
The new standard provides a common framework for wireless mesh networking and can be used by procurement agencies, regulators, and infrastructure planners when evaluating networking technologies for field-area deployments. By becoming an ISO/IEC standard, Wi-SUN FAN also simplifies procurement processes by allowing organizations to reference an internationally approved specification instead of relying only on industry-developed documentation.
Wi-SUN FAN is designed for large-scale utility and infrastructure networks, including smart metering, smart grids, street lighting, and other connected city applications. According to the alliance, the technology is already deployed in nationwide smart metering projects in Japan and in smart grid networks across North America, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific region.
“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.”
The alliance added that only a small percentage of IEEE-developed specifications receive joint ISO/IEC recognition, reflecting the maturity of the Wi-SUN FAN specification and its international acceptance for critical infrastructure networking.
