The concept sounded great but the underpinnings weren't there yet. Today that is changing, and adoption of SEDs in the enterprise is now getting off the ground.

Of course, like a number of interesting technologies, the early adopters of SEDs are in the consumer electronics industry, rather than IT. Apple's Bonjour protocol (formerly Rendezvous) connects computers and smart devices in the home. Philips has a Wi-Fi television and there are plenty of Wi-Fi enabled digital video cameras that can upload video to the TV.

Up until now there's been no single initiative to make this happen. Rather, a number of companies have been working on independent tracks to develop similar technologies. But even that is beginning to change.

The Wi-Fi Alliance, a consortium of Wi-Fi infrastructure vendors, is working on a technology code-named Simple Config, which should be available in devices sometime in the third quarter. Although details are somewhat scant, Simple Config removes the complication of getting on the network, making it simple for new devices to get authenticated and secured.

The system includes a discovery and a registration protocol that allows devices and APs to find each other and negotiate a preshared key. Currently the spec offers two ways to accept a device: The user can enter a PIN, or vendors can actually build in a physical "accept" button onto the product.