AUSTIN, Texas, Dec. 18, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Wi-Fi® addresses a broad range of next generation connectivity scenarios both today and in the future, as explored by Wi-Fi Alliance® in a new whitepaper, Next generation Wi-Fi: The future of connectivity. With an array of portfolio enhancements and evolution to Wi-Fi 6, the whitepaper details Wi-Fi’s broadening ability to support advanced use cases while maintaining the inherent strengths that have made Wi‑Fi a success. Wi-Fi delivers reliability, security, and interoperability, and will soon deliver greater capacity, faster speeds, and lower latency to support next generation use cases such as augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), Ultra high-definition (Ultra HD) video, multiparty gaming, Internet of Things (IoT), and other immersive experiences.
For nearly two decades, Wi-Fi networks have created a distributed connectivity fabric that brings Wi-Fi where it is needed most: in homes, inside buildings, and in dense outdoor areas. Wi-Fi has done this while protecting users with a high level of security and making efficient use of available unlicensed spectrum. The new whitepaper includes details on the many inherent strengths in today’s Wi-Fi that further pave the way towards addressing next generation connectivity, such as:
- Affordable performance
- Unlicensed spectrum operation
- Ease of use
- Self-deployment
- Long-term compatibility
“Wi-Fi continues to add a richer set of capabilities that broaden deployment scenarios,” said Edgar Figueroa, president and CEO, Wi-Fi Alliance. “Excitement around new technologies will come and go, and meanwhile, Wi-Fi maintains its strong track record and commitment to core competencies that will continue to deliver mission critical connectivity and to carry the bulk of the world’s data traffic.”
The Wi-Fi Alliance portfolio of technologies delivers a broad range of scenarios from low power to high-performance and capacity. Today’s Wi-Fi already supports high-resolution video streaming, Wi‑Fi calling, smart home monitoring, hotspot access, automation of city-wide services, residential AR/VR applications, and seamless roaming. Wi-Fi 6 brings a new level of Wi-Fi capacity and performance, and enhancements to WiGig in the 60 GHz millimeter wave band will deliver faster speeds and longer ranges. Wi-Fi will provide connectivity for many advanced use cases in connected homes, connected enterprises, IoT, smart cities, carrier services, and public venues. Additionally, Wi-Fi HaLow™ will enable a variety of power-efficient use cases for connected car, digital healthcare, and industrial scenarios.
Wi-Fi’s installed base of more than nine billion devices enables delivery of next generation connectivity as part of a gradual transition, with backward compatibility to support legacy devices. Wi-Fi 6 will be introduced where needed and will not require a sizeable investment in new infrastructure, while still providing many advancements in performance and capacity. Similarly, users will be able to upgrade to Wi‑Fi 6 devices as desired. Wi-Fi's ability to address many next generation use cases today reduces the pressure and urgency for operators to deploy more expensive cellular networks, and for subscribers to buy new mobile devices to experience advanced use cases.
Next generation Wi-Fi: The future of connectivity expands on Wi-Fi’s five key inherent strengths that have made it nearly ubiquitous in devices and networks, and further explores Wi-Fi’s evolution to address many important, next generation use cases. The paper outlines advanced use cases that are available today, while also building excitement for what is to come over the next few years. The paper also describes Wi-Fi’s complementary role with 5G, as well as further describing the economic and societal benefits that Wi-Fi brings to our lives.
The full paper is available for download here.
Industry support for next generation Wi-Fi
“Where previous generations of Wi-Fi offed mostly improved data rates and performance, Wi-Fi 6 is designed to deliver transformational change to the traditional Wi-Fi architecture. Wi-Fi 6’s ability to effectively communicate with multiple clients simultaneously adds a level of capacity, performance, and network efficiency never before thought possible over a wireless network.
In additional to traditional wireless network demands, IoT, smart cities, connected home, and VR/AR demands will put additional strain on the Wi-Fi network. Wi-Fi 6 has the capability to support and deliver this level of performance. Wi-Fi 6 will support a positive experience to the user (and IT administrator) even in the most dense environments.” - Perry Correll, product management director, Aerohive Networks
"Wi-Fi remains the future of connectivity, as outlined in this concise and insightful new white paper from Wi-Fi Alliance. Innovations such as Wi-Fi 6 coupled with AirTies’ Smart Wi-Fi software will help operators upgrade Wi-Fi performance and coverage, proactively fix and monitor Wi-Fi issues, and improve overall customer satisfaction for the super connected homes of tomorrow." – Metin Taskin, CTO of AirTies
“Technologies like Wi-Fi 6 and Passpoint will steer unlicensed networks into the 5G era, meeting high performance expectations across speed, latency, reliability, security and traffic management. To realize digital transformations for both people and things, we’ll need Wi-Fi and its ability to carry the bulk of data traffic with unparalleled efficiencies.” – Dr. Derek Peterson, CTO at Boingo Wireless
“In our increasingly digital world, Wi-Fi is more important than ever. It connects us in a cost-effective way whether we are at work, at home or on the go. It adds nearly $2 trillion to the global economy every year. As we look for new ways to seamlessly share what we create, Wi-Fi 6 will keep pace to deliver a swift, steady, and secure consumer experience. This white paper by Wi-Fi Alliance aptly highlights the continuous impact of Wi-Fi.”
– Vijay Nagarajan, Vice President of Marketing, Mobile Connectivity Division at Broadcom
“At CEVA, we are already seeing strong market demand for Wi-Fi 6, due to the new features, significantly improved performance and lower power consumption it enables for a wide range of use cases. We have been developing and licensing Wi-Fi MAC and modem IPs for many generations and both our existing customers and our many new prospects are very excited by the capabilities that Wi-Fi 6 brings to the next-generation of smart and connected devices.”
– Aviv Malinovitch, general manager of the connectivity business unit at CEVA
“For many years, Wi-Fi has fulfilled its brand promise of “anyone, anytime, anyplace” connectivity at a great price, driving almost $2T of global economic value per annum. The Wi-Fi Alliance’s whitepaper provides yet more evidence that every market segment, including Cisco’s customers in the sophisticated and very demanding enterprise and Service Provider segments, can be confident that Wi-Fi 6 will continue fulfilling this promise and solve real problems well into the future. – Matt MacPherson, Wireless CTO, Cisco
“Wi-Fi is the primary connectivity method for billions of devices, users and things. With the new capabilities offered by Wi-Fi 6, and the pending expansion of unlicensed spectrum, Wi-Fi is in a unique position as the ideal connectivity medium to support a wide range of emerging, innovative, next-generation use cases, including those expected from 5G.” – Chuck Lukaszewski, vice president of wireless strategy and standards for Hewlett Packard Enterprise
Wi-Fi is a true mass phenomenon. Millions of households and businesses in Europe operate their own Wi-Fi networks, making them the fundamental basis for modern, digital, life and digitalized business processes. This is a role only Wi-Fi will be able to play, even in an era of 5G deployments. – Jan Buis, Vice President Wireless LAN, IoT & Switches, LANCOM Systems
“Wi-Fi 6 will help enable the next generation of Wi-Fi connectivity by providing significant benefits to end users by enabling faster access to the network, reduced interference and easier integration of IoT devices. Quantenna is a strong supporter of Wi-Fi 6 and our portfolio of advanced solutions provides our customers with its full benefits.” – Ambroise Popper, vice president, strategy and corporate marketing, Quantenna
“With more than 20 billion devices shipped and many new features coming, there is no doubt that Wi-Fi will continue to play a dominant role in our increasingly wireless world. The Wi-Fi Alliance’s new paper, Next Generation Wi-Fi, does a nice job highlighting the major capabilities and services enabled by Wi-Fi 6 and WiGig technologies, the disparate spectrum bands that will be utilized, and the societal and economic benefits of Wi-Fi. Ruckus looks forward to continuing our leadership in Wi-Fi innovation as we enter the ‘5G Era.” – Dave Wright, director of regulatory affairs and network standards, Ruckus Networks, an ARRIS Company
About Wi-Fi Alliance®
www.wi-fi.org
Wi-Fi Alliance® is the worldwide network of companies that brings you Wi-Fi®. Members of our collaboration forum come together from across the Wi-Fi ecosystem with the shared vision to connect everyone and everything, everywhere, while providing the best possible user experience. Since 2000, Wi-Fi Alliance has completed more than 40,000 Wi-Fi certifications. The Wi-Fi CERTIFIED™ seal of approval designates products with proven interoperability, backward compatibility, and the highest industry-standard security protections in place. Today, Wi-Fi carries more than half of the internet’s traffic in an ever-expanding variety of applications. Wi-Fi Alliance continues to drive the adoption and evolution of Wi-Fi, which billions of people rely on every day.
Media contacts:
Andrea Torres
Highwire PR for Wi-Fi Alliance
wi-fi@highwirepr.com
+1-415-963-4174 ext. 13