More than 18 billion devices in use, 4.4 billion shipping in 2022
Austin, TX – January 20, 2022 – Wi-Fi® users demand more efficient, reliable, and secure connectivity in 2022. 6 GHz regulatory approvals, remote-hybrid work scenarios, and complex connectivity systems in home, enterprise, and Internet of Things (IoT) environments will only continue to drive demand for high capacity, low latency Wi-Fi. In 2022, nearly 18 billion Wi-Fi devices will be in use, and more than 4.4 billion devices will ship this year.1 As Wi-Fi momentum mounts, Wi-Fi Alliance® looks ahead at four Wi-Fi trends expected in 2022.
Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E further adoption in homes and enterprises
Wi-Fi 6 reached 50 percent market adoption more quickly than previous Wi-Fi generations, fueled by demand for high quality Wi-Fi and more efficient, reliable connectivity in phones, tablets, and access points (AP). Additionally, enhanced performance, low latency, and greater power efficiencies allow Wi-Fi 6 to satisfy diverse needs of IoT in unrivaled ways. Increasing availability of 6 GHz worldwide coupled with Wi-Fi 6E interoperability certification created the foundation for a diverse Wi-Fi 6E ecosystem, as more than 350 million Wi-Fi 6E devices will enter the market in 2022.2 In 2022, Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E will become more commonplace in daily life, both in homes and enterprises. Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E solutions for PCs and notebooks and mesh systems have already been introduced, and we expect many more home networking, automotive, IoT, and augmented/virtual reality (AR/VR) solutions supporting Wi-Fi 6 to make their way into users’ hands. Wi-Fi 6E access points will be deployed in home networks to meet the needs of bandwidth intensive, latency sensitive applications, and more service providers will recognize the tremendous speed and capacity benefits Wi-Fi 6E delivers to customers by making Wi-Fi 6E home gateways and access points part of their subscription plans.
Wi-Fi Alliance advances AFC framework
Global momentum for Wi-Fi 6E increases daily, and there is a sustained impetus to make the full 1200 MHz of spectrum in 6 GHz available for Wi-Fi in more countries. In 2022, Wi-Fi Alliance will continue to lead development of the Automated Frequency Coordination (AFC) framework to ensure a diverse ecosystem of AFC service providers necessary to maximize adoption of outdoor and standard power Wi-Fi 6E in regions requiring AFC. The AFC system, already adopted into the 6 GHz regulatory framework in Canada and U.S., is also being considered by regulators in other countries. Wi-Fi Alliance has already announced the release of specifications and test plans for AFC system implementation, and more than a dozen potential AFC service providers have expressed interest to the Federal Communications Commission. This year, expect Wi-Fi Alliance to continue to maximize the adoption of standard power and outdoor Wi-Fi 6E and accelerate delivery of Wi-Fi 6E benefits.
Wi-Fi meets diverse IoT requirements
The global smart home market will reach more than $53 billion in 20223, fueled by consumer desire for connected appliances, security systems, and smart speakers that help save energy, time, and money. As companies invest trillions of dollars in IoT and consumers add more connected devices to their homes, Wi-Fi will further transform the smart home market in 2022. Wi-Fi has long been the technology of choice for IoT, and an expanded Wi-Fi IoT portfolio can now better meet diverse smart home connectivity needs. Wi-Fi 6 reinforces Wi-Fi is a premier option for IoT; Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E include features such as orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) that can improve performance in dense environments while target wake time (TWT) reduces battery consumption and makes Wi-Fi an ideal solution for sensor-based devices. Recently introduced Wi-Fi CERTIFIED HaLow™ delivers long range, low power Wi-Fi and enables a variety of new, power-efficient use cases for residential IoT and IIoT environments, as well as retail, agriculture, healthcare, smart home, and smart city markets. All Wi-Fi CERTIFIED™ devices require strong WPA3™ security, with the highest protections for IoT environments.
Wi-Fi networks reach new optimization levels
The growing number of devices and users relying on video conferencing, voice-over-IP services, X Reality (XR) applications, and high definition (UHD) streaming at home and in enterprise networks have placed additional strain on both network managers and service providers. The additional data traffic and advanced applications used on today’s Wi-Fi networks require a new level of network optimization. The Wi-Fi CERTIFIED portfolio of network optimization technologies has seen numerous advancements, resulting in Wi-Fi with greater mobility, enhanced network efficiency, and improved network visibility and management in home and enterprise networks in 2022. Optimizations including Wi-Fi CERTIFIED Easy Connect™ and Wi-Fi CERTIFIED EasyMesh™ now deliver more secure, smart, and efficient Wi-Fi home networks. Wi-Fi CERTIFIED Optimized Connectivity™ improves mobility when roaming within and across Wi-Fi networks and between Wi-Fi and cellular networks. Wi-Fi CERTIFIED QoS Management™ brings robust service delivery and high quality Wi-Fi experiences, while Wi-Fi CERTIFIED Data Elements™ helps service providers and network managers better manage complex Wi-Fi networks. In 2022 we will also see more Wi-Fi deployments by service providers in dense, city and public areas that support Wi-Fi CERTIFIED Passpoint®, a foundation of OpenRoaming framework, which raise the bar for speed, security, and reliability.
For more insight into 2022 Wi-Fi trends from Wi-Fi Alliance members, and to watch 2022 Wi-Fi trends videos from AirTies, Aruba, ASSIA, Boingo, Broadcom Inc., CommScope, Extreme Networks, HFCL Limited, Intel Corporation, NetExperience, onsemi, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., please visit: https://bit.ly/2022WiFiTrends
1 IDC Research, 2022
2 IDC Research, 2022
3 Statista, 2021
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 70,000 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.
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Support for uplink capacity and greater power management benefit dense enterprise and IoT deployments
Austin, Texas – January 5, 2022 – With adoption of Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 6™ growing steadily, Wi-Fi Alliance® is evolving Wi-Fi 6 certification to meet increasing demands from today’s Wi-Fi® use cases. Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 6 Release 2 is now available, bringing new features that support increasing device and traffic density to deliver greater performance and power management with Wi-Fi devices and applications. Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 6 Release 2 adds support for uplink multi-user multiple input, multiple output (multi-user MIMO) to deliver smoother streaming services and video conferencing, faster uploads, and more reliable gaming. Additionally, three power management features improve Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 6 power efficiency, benefitting enterprise, industrial, and Internet of Things (IoT) applications. New features apply across all bands supported by Wi-Fi 6 – 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz and 6 GHz – bringing capacity, efficiency, coverage and performance benefits to residential, enterprise, and large public networks. Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 6 delivers the best experience with advanced applications, while providing strong WPA3™ security and promoting interoperability between Wi-Fi CERTIFIED™ devices.
“Wi-Fi delivers advanced capabilities that have driven tremendous global innovation, paving the way for massive growth in Wi-Fi applications that users rely on every day,” said Edgar Figueroa, president and CEO, Wi-Fi Alliance. “Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 6 Release 2 furthers Wi-Fi’s evolution to address today’s market needs, and supports more high-performance Wi-Fi scenarios with greater capacity, efficiency, and reliability.”
Wi-Fi uplink performance
Nearly two billion Wi-Fi 6 devices will enter the market in 20221, and today’s Wi-Fi supports increased device density, more bandwidth-hungry applications, and surges in uplink data demand in residential and enterprise environments. Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 6 Release 2 adds support for uplink multi-user MIMO, enabling devices to upload content concurrently to an access point (AP). Wi-Fi networks are supporting more upstream activity, with users frequently uploading work documents and videos to social media sites, and the trend toward greater uplink data consumption will further increase as more IoT devices send data via Wi-Fi to the cloud.
Uplink multi-user MIMO improves network performance and reduces latency while video conferencing, uploading documents, and any other mission-critical applications that require greater uplink capacity. Wi-Fi 6 deployments are increasing worldwide in large office buildings, public arenas, education campuses, high rise dwellings, and mass transportation hubs, and advanced Wi-Fi 6 capabilities drive innovation in the countless applications that rely on Wi-Fi. Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 6 Release 2 delivers comprehensive multi-user MIMO implementation to deliver strong Wi-Fi performance even in challenging environments with many Wi-Fi devices.
Wi-Fi power management
Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 6 Release 2 includes new features that bring power management improvements for devices in enterprise and IoT deployments. New low power and sleep mode enhancements – including broadcast target wake time (TWT), extended sleep time, and dynamic multi-user spatial multiplexing power save (SMPS)– enable power optimization of multiple battery powered devices. This trio of features allow multiple devices to receive extended sleep periods, allow for specific “wake up” times for transmitting data, and enable dynamic shut off of redundant receive chains to optimize power consumption in Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 6 Release 2 networks. Power management features benefit smart home, smart city, and Industrial IoT (IIoT) environments, and enable Wi-Fi to further its role in delivering IoT applications.
“Wi-Fi 6 adoption has outpaced previous Wi-Fi generations, driven by demand for better Wi-Fi connectivity in phones, tablets, PCs and access points to support high-performance, low latency uses in both residential and enterprise environments. Technological advancements continue to bring speed and efficiency benefits to a wide number of users and use cases, most importantly, in areas with high densities of users or client devices connecting and transferring large amounts of data,” said Phil Solis, Research Director at IDC. “Reduction in chipset costs and advancements in Wi-Fi 6 power management will also help shift the IoT space to more broadly adopt Wi-Fi 6 in the coming years.”
Industry support for Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 6 Release 2
“Today’s service providers want Wi-Fi 6 as part of a managed Wi-Fi solution to deliver the best possible connected home experience for consumers. It’s clear that the number of connected devices is increasing at an accelerated rate, and trends such as the ‘enterprization’ of the home, UHD video, telemedicine, and online gaming are all placing more demands on home networks. Wi-Fi 6 can address these demands, and Airties offers an extensive Wi-Fi 6 portfolio, powered by Airties Edge software for Wi-Fi 6 gateways and extenders.” – Metin Taskin, CTO, Airties
“Broadcom is pleased to have its Wi-Fi 6E access point and client device reference designs included in the Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 6 Release 2 test bed. The wide proliferation of Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E devices is already creating new experiences for the consumer. The Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 6 Release 2 certification program, which we are happy to be a part of, is designed to carry this momentum forward.” – Vijay Nagarajan, Vice President of Marketing for the Wireless Communications and Connectivity Division, Broadcom
“The breadth of new features that Wi-Fi offers consumers requires constant updates and sometimes staged releases to get products to the market. We applaud Wi-Fi Alliance for continuing to drive this phased process and the latest introduction of Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 6 Release 2, bringing powerful new features like uplink multi-user MIMO to Wi-Fi 6.” – Charles Cheevers, CTO, Home Networks, CommScope
“Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 6 was a game changer for IoT applications and Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 6 Release 2 extends these innovations even further. Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 6 Release 2 enhancements for TWT, uplink multi-user MIMO, and Extended Sleep Time allow for long-life battery-operated devices that also provide the added range for not only whole home coverage but whole property coverage including outdoor cameras, lighting, energy management systems, and sensors. Infineon’s AIROC™ Wi-Fi family of products support Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 6 Release 2 features, which coupled with advanced range and robustness improvement capabilities, improved power management, and a comprehensive security framework, delivers cutting edge solutions for IoT applications.” – Sivaram Trikutam, Senior Director, IoT Compute and Wireless, Infineon
“We would like to thank Wi-Fi Alliance for enabling the industry to ramp new Wi-Fi technologies through certification programs which help ensure device interoperability, and we are delighted to have the Intel® Wi-Fi 6E AX210 product be part of their latest test bed. New Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 6 Release 2 features like uplink MU-MIMO, coupled with new high-speed channels in the 6 GHz spectrum for Wi-Fi 6E, will help networks scale in their ability to deliver faster, more responsive Wi-Fi experiences as the number of devices continues to exponentially grow.” – Eric A. McLaughlin, VP of Client Computing Group, and GM of the Wireless Solutions Group, Intel Corporation
“With the demand for greater responsiveness and performance required by new disruptive, untethered real-time immersive experiences, Wi-Fi Alliance certification is crucial to ensure robust interoperability and rapid adoption of Wi-Fi 6 Release 2 devices. We’re honored that our WAV600-2 product family was selected as an access point test bed device for Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 6 Release 2 and that MaxLinear chipsets will empower the next generation of broadband platforms for multi-gigabit video, gaming, and other demanding low-latency services launching this year.” – Doron Tal, Vice President, Broadband Access, MaxLinear
“The Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 6 Release 2 program brings a number of improvements to high density wireless networks. We will see tangible advancements in uplink performance, power and enhanced range, unlocking new applications and use cases for residential, industrial and enterprise users. As part of the test bed of chipsets for Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 6 Release 2, MediaTek’s Filogic family provides fast, reliable and an always connected solution to help drive the Wi-Fi industry forward as we all rely on connected devices more than ever before.” – Alan Hsu, Corporate Vice President & General Manager of MediaTek’s Intelligent Connectivity business
“As one of the first companies to be certified for Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 6 Release 2 and to be included in Wi-Fi Alliance’s interoperability test bed, NXP continues to play a leading role in helping Wi-Fi Alliance innovate and drive the adoption of Wi-Fi 6. With Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 6 Release 2, Wi-Fi Alliance is proactively meeting the growing performance demands of advanced IoT applications that require significantly greater capacity and increased power efficiency both today and tomorrow.” – Larry Olivas, VP and GM of Wireless Connectivity Solutions, NXP Semiconductors
“There is a fundamental shift in how we work and play, with effective connectivity becoming critical for seamless transitions between our physical and virtual worlds. onsemi congratulates Wi-Fi Alliance’s timely introduction of Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 6 Release 2. This further helps improve the end user experience via uplink MU-MIMO and power efficiency optimizations, expanding opportunities for smoother and more reliable video, gaming and IoT applications.” – Irvind Ghai, vice president of product marketing, Wireless Connectivity and Signal Processing Division, onsemi
“To ensure productive and reliable connectivity while working, playing, and learning remotely, the demand for a better approach to uplink data has never been greater. Uplink MU-MIMO, a key feature of Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 6 Release 2, is designed to deliver in every environment. Qualcomm’s end-to-end solutions enable customers to deliver networking, IoT and mobile products that meet the moment, while deploying leading technology.” – Rahul Patel, SVP & GM, Connectivity & Networking, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc
1 IDC Research, 2021
Secure, interoperable Wi-Fi expands connectivity for more IoT applications
Austin, TX – November 2, 2021 – Wi-Fi Alliance® introduces Wi-Fi CERTIFIED HaLow™ – the certification program for products incorporating IEEE 802.11ah technology – to expand Wi-Fi® applications for the Internet of Things (IoT). Wi-Fi HaLow™ operates in the sub-1 GHz band, enabling long range and low power connectivity, while providing a robust connection in challenging Wi-Fi environments. Wi-Fi HaLow will enable a variety of new, power-efficient use cases for IoT and Industrial IoT (IIoT) environments, as well as retail, agriculture, healthcare, smart home, and smart city markets.
Wi-Fi HaLow enables low power connectivity necessary for applications including sensors, personal wearable devices, and utility meters that require multi-year battery operation. Wi-Fi HaLow supports applications such as streaming compressed video from security cameras, even in challenging environments where the ability to penetrate walls or other barriers to provide a robust connection is an important consideration. In agriculture or logistics monitoring applications where long range is a priority, Wi-Fi HaLow delivers data at ranges exceeding one kilometer. Wi-Fi HaLow adopts existing Wi-Fi protocols to deliver many of the benefits that consumers have come to expect from Wi-Fi, including multi-vendor interoperability, strong WPA3™ security, easy setup, and seamless integration into IP networks.
“Wi-Fi CERTIFIED HaLow further extends Wi-Fi’s leading role in IoT to address a new range of secure and interoperable use cases that require longer range and lower power. Wi-Fi HaLow is a compelling addition to the Wi-Fi portfolio, making the full range of Wi-Fi capabilities an unmatched connectivity offering,” said Edgar Figueroa, president and CEO, Wi-Fi Alliance. “There are growing opportunities to streamline connectivity in the growing IoT market, and Wi-Fi HaLow builds on a universally trusted Wi-Fi foundation to pave the way for emerging IoT applications to benefit homes, businesses, and industries.”
Wi-Fi’s expanding IoT portfolio
IoT connected devices in use worldwide are projected to exceed 30 billion units by 2025, more than doubling from 13.8 billion in 2021.1 The smart home IoT use case is a rapidly growing market, and more than 29 percent of businesses also use IoT technology to streamline processes and increase efficiency.2 Wi-Fi Alliance has a strong portfolio of technologies delivering low power, high performance, and secure Wi-Fi for a wide variety of IoT environments. Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 6™ is a strong complement to Wi-Fi HaLow for commercial, industrial, and residential IoT applications requiring fast data rates and low latency, such as AR/VR, home security systems with high-resolution video feeds, medical telemetry monitoring, and remote surgery. Wi-Fi CERTIFIED Easy Connect™ reduces the complexity of connecting devices to Wi-Fi networks, including the many IoT devices with little to no user interface, while simultaneously incorporating the highest security standards. All Wi-Fi CERTIFIED™ devices support WPA3, providing cutting edge security protocols to protect sensitive data and provide strong protections to users.
“Wi-Fi HaLow devices such as security cameras and tablets are being used in industrial environments today, and we expect devices to soon make their way to smart home environments allowing consumers to take advantage of its longer range and lower power for applications such as battery powered cameras, video baby monitors, and other smart home products,” said Phil Solis, research director at IDC. “Companies have been working on Wi-Fi HaLow chipsets for years and we expect shipments to break 10 million in 2022, with adoption expanding from industrial to include smart home, smart city, and retail markets.”
Member companies providing interoperability test bed devices that are among the first Wi-Fi CERTIFIED HaLow products include Methods2Business, Morse Micro, and Newracom.
Industry support for Wi-Fi CERTIFIED HaLow:
“Wi-Fi CERTIFIED HaLow is the best choice for sensor communication and video feeds in RF challenged environments, such as manufacturing floors, construction sites, and commercial buildings. Operating in the ISM sub-GHz band, Wi-Fi HaLow brings exciting new features and Wi-Fi Alliance certification is of key importance to the IoT marketplace. Wi-Fi HaLow delivers longer range (more than 1 kilometer), higher throughput, large scale station deployments due to grouping and scheduling, lower latency, and long battery lifetime. Additionally, as part of the Wi-Fi family, Wi-Fi HaLow capitalizes on existing Wi-Fi infrastructure and robust end-to-end security, with multicast, and broadcast capabilities that allows for field software upgradability.” – Michael “Mac” McNamara, CEO, Adapt-IP
“Methods2Business is proud to play an active role in the availability of Wi-Fi CERTIFIED HaLow. Our company is excited to be one of the Wi-Fi HaLow certification test bed providers. Wi-Fi Alliance is delivering great value to the industry, enabling us to develop one of the first certified, interoperable, Wi-Fi HaLow products. Our customers believe that Wi-Fi HaLow will play a substantial role in the revolution of Industrial IoT and IoT for the Smart Home. It will serve these rapidly emerging markets with its unique advantages of a longer range (more than a kilometer) Wi-Fi with ultra-low power consumption and high security standards.” – Marleen Boonen, CEO & Founder, Methods2Business
“The ground-breaking potential of extending the already transformative characteristics of Wi-Fi into the sub-1 GHz band is hard to overstate, and we applaud Wi-Fi Alliance’s leadership in unleashing a new era of long range, low power and high-capacity Wi-Fi HaLow experiences for consumers. As a leading Wi-Fi HaLow innovator, we have invested heavily in R&D to ensure the market is ready with SoCs and modules that deliver unmatched benefits unlike any Wi-Fi or LPWAN technology available today. The addition of sub-1 GHz Wi-Fi CERTIFIED HaLow to the Wi-Fi CERTIFIED portfolio will be a game changer for consumers and enterprises, from smart home, building automation, smart city, and industrial markets – and everything in between.”
– Michael De Nil, co-founder and CEO, Morse Micro
“We are incredibly excited to witness Wi-Fi Alliance’s announcement of the Wi-Fi CERTIFIED HaLow program. Today marks a significant milestone for Newracom, Wi-Fi Alliance, and the industry as a whole. With long range, lower power consumption and massive deployment capabilities, Wi-Fi HaLow extends the inherent goodness of Wi-Fi to accelerate the next generation Internet of Things applications.” – Zac Freeman, Vice President, Newracom
“Palma Ceia SemiDesign salutes Wi-Fi Alliance on the launch of the Wi-Fi CERTIFIED HaLow program. This launch represents years of work by members of Wi-Fi Alliance to achieve a truly testable and compliant standard. Wi-Fi HaLow will provide users with a unique combination of range, throughput, network density, and power efficiency with WPA3 security. Palma Ceia will deliver Wi-Fi HaLow solutions and network support services to consumer and industrial clients. We look forward to the positive impact Wi-Fi HaLow and the collection of Wi-Fi CERTIFIED HaLow products will have on the IoT market and the expanded user applications that will benefit from Wi-Fi HaLow’s outcome-based network deployments.” – Kevin Walsh, Vice President of Strategic Marketing, Palma Ceia SemiDesign
For more information, please visit our website and download our technology overview, program paper, and highlights sheet.
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 65,000 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.
Wi-Fi QoS Management™ helps provide consistent service quality across Wi-Fi and 5G
Austin, TX – October 21, 2021 – Wi-Fi CERTIFIED QoS Management™ is a certification program from Wi-Fi Alliance® that allows more granular Quality of Service (QoS) management in home, public, and enterprise environments to further improve the user experience with latency-sensitive, real-time applications, and to help ensure consistent QoS treatment across Wi-Fi® and 5G networks. Standardized mechanisms in Wi-Fi QoS Management™ allow for differentiated traffic prioritization between Wi-Fi and cellular networks to deliver an enhanced user experience with applications requiring low latency and low jitter. Wi-Fi QoS Management enhances voice-over-IP, videoconferencing, interactive gaming, X Reality (XR), Internet of Things (IoT) and healthcare monitoring.
“Wi-Fi has a powerful role today in delivering essential use cases in home and enterprise environments,” said Kevin Robinson, SVP of Marketing, Wi-Fi Alliance. “There is unprecedented growth of real-time, bidirectional communication applications over Wi-Fi, and Wi-Fi QoS Management delivers deterministic connectivity that allows enterprises, service providers, and users to enjoy latency-sensitive applications even in dense or challenging environments. Additionally, as more 5G networks are deployed, Wi-Fi QoS Management will help ensure consistent traffic management across Wi-Fi and cellular networks.”
Wi-Fi QoS Management includes four core features including:
Hybrid workforces are becoming increasingly more common and have given renewed importance to collaboration technologies which rely on high quality Wi-Fi to deliver the best user experience with tools including video conferencing or voice-over-IP. Additionally, XR technologies are poised to bridge gaps between real and virtual worlds by improving education, onboarding, healthcare, and other advanced use cases with richer experiences. Consistent QoS treatment policies are necessary to meet the demands of these advanced use cases – most of which require data traffic to traverse multiple networks – including Wi-Fi, wired, and cellular. Wi-Fi QoS Management provides mechanisms that allow client applications to request QoS treatment, and for network managers to implement QoS policies. These mechanisms allow user devices and access points to perform differentiated prioritization, depending on the type of traffic. The result is robust service delivery and higher quality Wi-Fi, including better experiences with real-time and immersive applications, and reduced latency and jitter when online gaming or accessing interactive cloud and edge services.
For more information, please visit our website and download our technology overview and/or highlights sheet.
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 65,000 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.
Austin, Texas and Washington, D.C. – October 19, 2021 – Wi-Fi Alliance® continues to advance development of the Automated Frequency Coordination (AFC) system that maximizes spectrum access in the 6 GHz frequency band. Wi-Fi Alliance is announcing the release of an additional element necessary for AFC system implementation: the AFC System Compliance Test Plan. Wi-Fi Alliance development efforts on this innovative AFC system aim to ensure worldwide adoption, interoperability, security, and reliability expected of Wi-Fi®.
Wi-Fi 6E leverages the 6 GHz band to unleash capacity, speed, and reduced latency benefits. The AFC system, already adopted into 6 GHz regulatory framework in Canada and U.S., is also being considered by regulators in other countries. Development of this AFC system framework demonstrates the commitment by Wi-Fi Alliance to maximizing 6 GHz spectrum opportunity and accelerating delivery of Wi-Fi 6E benefits.
AFC documents now available from Wi-Fi Alliance include:
For more information on countries enabling Wi-Fi 6E, please visit: https://www.wi-fi.org/countries-enabling-wi-fi-6e. To download the full package of Wi-Fi Alliance AFC documents, please visit: https://www.wi-fi.org/file/afc-specification-and-test-plans.
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 65,000 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.
Wi-Fi Alliance® adds Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E support to help service providers manage complex networks
Austin, Texas – October 7, 2021 – Wi-Fi CERTIFIED Data Elements™, the standardized approach to facilitating important key performance indicators for Wi-Fi® network health, now supports advanced Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E networks. The latest generation of Wi-Fi is quickly gaining traction in residential networks, bringing a variety of features, capabilities, and advanced use cases that make network management more complex. Service providers deploying Wi-Fi Data Elements™ can more efficiently gather metrics to manage the complexity of multi-generation networks and provide the best user experience to their customers. Wi-Fi Data Elements effectively scales to support more devices operating on Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E networks, delivering detailed operating parameters and real-world performance indicators – such as PHY rates, airtime, and retry rates – that inform management decisions in dense and dynamic networks.
In addition to providing greater understanding into Wi-Fi networks – such as how many devices are on the network, use of bandwidth, signal strength measurements, and free airtime – Wi-Fi Data Elements also aligns diagnostic elements with Wi-Fi CERTIFIED EasyMesh™, supporting traffic prioritization and channel scanning in multi-access point (AP) networks. Support for Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E enables Wi-Fi Data Elements to provide key performance indicators associated with advanced use cases, maximizing service providers’ ability to deliver Quality of Service (QoS) for 4K video streaming, cloud gaming, AR/VR, and more over a larger service area. Support call frequency, support call duration, network interference, and congestion are also minimized because network administrators can proactively and more effectively resolve network issues even in very dense network environments.
“There are more than 250 key performance indicators offered by Wi-Fi Data Elements that service providers can use to recognize and resolve Wi-Fi network issues,” said Kevin Robinson, SVP of Marketing, Wi-Fi Alliance®. “Wi-Fi Data Elements delivers those important performance markers in a standardized way, allowing service providers to respond better to the dynamic nature of advanced Wi-Fi networks and deliver the best experience to their customers.”
Deploying Wi-Fi Data Elements benefits the full managed network ecosystem. Network operators gain timely visibility into Wi-Fi performance within a customer’s network and diagnostic or analytics tool vendors benefit through use of standardized key performance indicators—specific to Wi-Fi networks—to create more effective tools.
For more information, please visit our website and download our technology overview and/or highlights sheet.
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 65,000 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.
Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E support allows service providers to ensure state-of-the-art Wi-Fi network coverage
Austin, TX – October 7, 2021 – Wi-Fi CERTIFIED EasyMesh™ now incorporates the latest technologies from Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E, improving Wi-Fi® connectivity, performance, and efficiency in multiple access point (AP) networks. New capabilities enable service providers deploying Wi-Fi EasyMesh™ to deliver higher data rates, increase network capacity, and reduce spectral congestion in home networks. Support for Wi-Fi 6E allows Wi-Fi EasyMesh networks to utilize less congested spectrum in the 6 GHz band to deliver the best experience with high bandwidth, low-latency services and applications. Added support for these advanced technologies allows Wi-Fi EasyMesh networks to self-monitor and intelligently manage an extended footprint while providing reliable, uniform whole-home coverage.
The expectations for the connected home have changed, and home networks must now support extended coverage areas – such as garages and basements that now serve as work and education areas – higher bandwidth applications, and up to 20 active devices at once1. Home networks now present new challenges for service providers as they address a greater number of speed, latency, and connectivity concerns. Wi-Fi EasyMesh allows service providers to better support their customers’ growing networks and deliver more reliable and consistent quality of service, even with demanding applications
“Wi-Fi Alliance® is continually improving the quality of experience and consistency of performance in Wi-Fi networks,” said Kevin Robinson, SVP of Marketing, Wi-Fi Alliance. “Wi-Fi EasyMesh is part of a compelling collection of Wi-Fi Alliance certification programs that provide foundational tools that enable service providers to intelligently manage the connected home experience.”
Wi-Fi EasyMesh incorporates the latest technologies that enhance performance between access points and client devices on the network. The combination of these capabilities improves spectral efficiency of the network and supports higher bandwidth and lower latency requirements. Service providers deploying Wi-Fi EasyMesh can provide more extensive coverage and can more efficiently manage network resources, providing their customers a more consistent experience. Additionally, new techniques to communicate Wi-Fi 6 capabilities in Wi-Fi EasyMesh networks can also be utilized by Wi-Fi CERTIFIED Data Elements™ to provide analytics to operators for greater insight into multiple AP network health. Product vendors also benefit from improved certification efficiency and cost savings when bringing interoperable Wi-Fi EasyMesh devices to market.
Advanced Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E features now supported in Wi-Fi EasyMesh networks include:
“CableLabs is excited about the new Wi-Fi CERTIFIED EasyMesh capabilities, with support for Wi-Fi 6 features such as Spatial Reuse Groups, BSS coloring, OFDMA and others,” said John Bahr, Principal Architect at CableLabs. “These features will allow Wi-Fi EasyMesh networks to more efficiently reuse RF spectrum making it a great option for cable operators to deliver the next generation of home Wi-Fi, with lower latency and better speeds.”
For more information, please visit our website and download our technology overview and/or highlights sheet.
1 Consumer Expectations for Wi-Fi in 2021, AirTies
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 65,000 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.
14 additional economies detailed in Wi-Fi Alliance® commissioned report
Austin, TX – September 14, 2021 – The Global Economic Value of Wi-Fi® (2021-2025) report now details individual forecasts for 14 additional economies in Africa, Middle East, and India. The study, commissioned by Wi-Fi Alliance® and originally released earlier this year, now focuses on 29 total economies that collectively contribute $3.3 trillion USD to the global economy in 2021, and are projected to reach nearly $5 trillion by 2025.
Key findings from the 14 additional economies include:
Wi-Fi’s economic value in these 29 economies was assessed based on several key factors and global developments impacting the Wi-Fi industry. Calculations of each factor – including free Wi-Fi access, residential and enterprise savings, Wi-Fi 6 adoption, availability of 6 GHz spectrum, and the coronavirus pandemic – were combined with implications specific to each country to develop the economic value.
Find the Global Economic Value of Wi-Fi report here, view the report highlights sheet, and download a graphics package on our website: www.valueofwifi.org
*Global Wi-Fi economic impact forecasts overall were not impacted by detailed forecasts for 14 additional economies.
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 65,000 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.
Austin, Texas – August 17, 2021 The recently introduced Wi-Fi 6E certification program from Wi-Fi Alliance® is driving unprecedented growth in the introduction of Wi-Fi® devices into 6 GHz. Updates to this program will enhance spectral efficiency and optimize 6 GHz network performance by minimizing Wi-Fi 6E signaling while delivering the security, reliability, and interoperability inherent to Wi-Fi CERTIFIED™ products. This effort, yet again, demonstrates the industry’s commitment to improving spectral efficiency with each new generation of Wi-Fi technology.
X Reality (XR), short for extended reality, is the convergence of physical world and digital world experiences. XR is used to describe immersive applications including augmented reality (AR), mixed reality (MR), and virtual reality (VR) – used to enhance or simulate real-life experiences. XR technologies extend the reality we experience by either merging the virtual and real worlds or by creating fully immersive experiences.
Deployment of XR applications in education, healthcare, and industrial settings are contributing to strong momentum for XR, with the market expected to grow from $33 billion to $125 billion by 20261. Virtual reality alone has seen a 224% growth since October 20192 as more people upgraded their smart entertainment devices to provide more immersive experiences while working, learning, and socializing from home.
Wi-Fi® will have a significant impact on delivering the full potential of the XR market, providing high-performance connectivity for augmented, mixed, and virtual reality. Work is now underway in Wi-Fi Alliance® to promote innovation and further boost Wi-Fi to deliver connectivity that will help build connections between physical and digital worlds. Recently, Wi-Fi Alliance hosted an XR Opportunity for Wi-Fi discussion featuring panelists from Cisco, Facebook Reality Labs, Microsoft, and Qualcomm. Panelists shared insight into the benefits of Wi-Fi for XR devices, while also acknowledging some of the challenges that lie ahead. Key insights from the discussion include:
Extended reality is transforming our daily lives. New XR use cases for education, healthcare, and business will allow students, medical professionals, and employees to have more impactful, personal, and unique experiences.
Panelist Bruno Cendon Martin, Director of Wireless Technologies at Facebook Reality Labs, believes that there are three walls in XR: the physical, the augmented, and the virtual. The physical is what we experience in day-to-day life. The augmented wall is one with layers. A virtual wall is one that “transcends time and space” and allows you to transition back in forth between realities. Development of new technologies, including portal systems and other Wi-Fi devices, will enable users to be transported through technology and gain a physical presence in another location. Wi-Fi visual headsets and other innovations on the horizon will allow users to be fully immersed in an entirely different world without leaving their home.
Wi-Fi will improve the infrastructure of XR. Advancements coming to Wi-Fi will help build connections across the physical and digital worlds. Panelist Dr. Shirin Ebrahimi-Taghizadeh, Principal Software Engineering Lead for Wireless and Embedded Systems at Microsoft shared that enabling services and solutions extremely relies on having a very stable and low latency wireless solution. Wi-Fi technologies, such as Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E will help provide connectivity to satisfy these demands. Microsoft’s Azure Remote Rendering, for example, allows designs to come to life for developers wanting to collaborate and see the richness of details without physically creating a prototype. Wi-Fi will further allow companies to produce products that surpasses the boundaries of physical limitations.
XR will have a strong impact beyond the workspace. Matt MacPherson, CTO of Wireless at Cisco, points to XR’s impact on various types of education systems, including elementary education, higher education, and health education. With XR becoming the forefront for many teaching efforts, testing and other educational practices are being revolutionized. VR-type implementations, for example, allow students to look at the same image and learn in the same way without needing to be in the same physical location. As XR capabilities grow exponentially, advancements will further advance this use case and allow for more education possibilities. Educators expect a bright future for Virtual Environment Technology (VET) because of the increasing need for tools that will help ease the process of learning and bring it closer to the students’ interests.
Wi-Fi can deliver high-quality, wireless XR experiences. Shishir Gupta, Product Director of XR Connectivity, 6G, and Wireless Positioning at Qualcomm believes that premium XR experiences require high-performance Wi-Fi for four main reasons. The first is low-latency for responsive and lag-free experiences. The second is extreme reliability with advanced features and optimization for sustained XR-class performance. The third is power efficiency to assist rapid and efficient data transfers with advanced power save features. Finally, multi-gigabit speeds allow for instantaneous, massive data exchange which is necessary in XR.
There are attractive opportunities for XR driven by consumer, education, healthcare, and industrial applications. Wi-Fi is already a strong technology player in these markets, making it a natural choice for the future of XR. Wi-Fi Alliance members are working to further the role of Wi-Fi in XR and are working closely with the XR ecosystem to deliver key Wi-Fi applications for augmented, mixed, and virtual reality. Companies involved in developing Wi-Fi solutions for the XR space are encouraged to get involved in Wi-Fi Alliance to help propel the industry forward.
