The Wi-Fi Alliance today announced that it has started certifying Wi-Fi Direct products.

Wi-Fi Direct is a peer-to-peer wireless connection method based on Intel's My WiFi and Atheros' Direct Connect. It's aimed at letting Wi-Fi devices connect quickly and easily, without requiring a wireless router or access point.

Wi-Fi Direct connections are secured by WPA2 and include WMM QoS mechanisms.

If manufacturers get on board with the new standard, it should be able to replace similar proprietary direct wireless connection methods such as Intel's Wireless Display and Apple's AirPlay.

The first Wi-Fi Direct certified devices are these PCIe mini-cards, primarily for laptop use:

* Atheros XSPAN Dual-band 802.11n PCIe Mini Card (AR928x)
* Broadcom BCM43224 Dual-Band 802.11n 2x2 MIMO PCIe Half Mini Card
* Intel® Centrino Advanced-N 6200
* Ralink MIMObility 802.11n 2x2 PCIe Half Mini Card
* Realtek RTL8192CE-VA4 HM92C00 PCIe mini card

More information at http://www.wi-fi.org/Wi-Fi_Direct.php.