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GLOBAL Wi-Fi NEWS bulletin

GREENSBORO, NC – June 16, 2026 – Qorvo® (Nasdaq:QRVO), a leading global provider of connectivity and power solutions, today announced it has received the Diamond Award from Chervon Group at Chervon’s 2026 Global Supplier Day. The Diamond Award is Chervon’s highest level of supplier recognition, reserved for partners who demonstrate sustained excellence in quality, innovation, delivery and strategic collaboration. The award recognizes Qorvo’s multi-year performance from 2023 through 2026.

Charles Wong, Qorvo vice president of APAC Sales, accepted the award on behalf of Qorvo at the Supplier Day ceremony.

“It was a tremendous honor to accept the Diamond Award on behalf of our team,” said Charles Wong. “This recognition is a credit to our sales, applications and operations teams who work alongside Chervon every day.”

Chervon is a leading global designer and manufacturer of handheld power tools, bench tools and outdoor power equipment, with a portfolio of brands that includes EGO®, FLEX®, DEVON® and SKIL®. The company’s Supplier Day brings together its top global partners to recognize outstanding contributions in support of Chervon’s mission: “Better Tools. Better World.”

Qorvo’s Power Application Controller (PAC™) motor control and battery management solutions (BMS) power Chervon’s industry-leading portfolio.  Qorvo power solutions support the platforms which have made Chervon a global leader in cordless power tools and outdoor power equipment.

“We are honored to earn Chervon’s Diamond Award,” said Jeff Strang, general manager of Qorvo Power Management. “This recognition reflects the deep collaboration between our engineering teams, and our shared commitment to delivering best-in-class motor control, BMS and power solutions. We look forward to continuing to support Chervon as they bring next-generation cordless tools and outdoor power equipment to customers around the world.”

“Qorvo has been a trusted technology partner to Chervon, and their continued investment in motor control, BMS and advanced power solutions have been instrumental to our success” said Jianjun Run, GM Chervon Group. “The Diamond Award reflects Qorvo’s outstanding performance across quality, innovation and partnership, and we look forward to continuing to build the next generation of better tools together.”

Qorvo and Chervon have teamed for nearly a decade on motor control and battery management solutions across Chervon’s portfolio. The Diamond Award underscores this long-standing strategic partnership.

About Qorvo
Qorvo (Nasdaq: QRVO) supplies innovative semiconductor solutions that make a better world possible. We combine product and technology leadership, systems-level expertise and global manufacturing scale to quickly solve our customers’ most complex technical challenges. Qorvo serves diverse high-growth segments of large global markets, including automotive, consumer, defense & aerospace, industrial & enterprise, infrastructure and mobile. Visit www.qorvo.com to learn how our diverse and innovative team is helping connect, protect and power our planet.

Powered by Intel edge infrastructure, a local California network demonstrates how micro-servers can deliver high-speed connectivity at a low cost.

BELLFLOWER, Calif. — A young woman unwillingly must leave her disabled mother at home to walk to the local library just to use the public internet to pay the household bills. A few blocks away, a family rations its online time, relying entirely on a son’s cellular data plan to check critical medical updates because traditional broadband is too expensive. At the weekly outdoor farmers market, small business owners regularly turn away customers because weak cellular signals prevent them from accepting credit cards.

These are the everyday realities in Bellflower; a suburb of 75,000 people located just 25 minutes outside of Los Angeles. Despite its proximity to America’s second-largest city, the community has long suffered from persistent cellular blind spots and high telecom costs that have left vulnerable residents behind.

Now, a new municipal network called Bellflower Connect is aiming to bridge this digital divide. By using a private wireless network of solar-powered micro-servers with Intel® Xeon® processors inside, and AI-driven cybersecurity at the edge, the public-private partnership offers an affordable, low-power blueprint for community broadband that organizers plan to scale to 50 additional U.S. cities under 150,000 people over the next few years.

Cutting the Red Tape

To get the network off the ground, the city of Bellflower waived standard permit charges, allowed reception towers to be built on public buildings, and bypassed lengthy request-for-proposal processes. This allowed project partner Tradewinds Networks to enter into a long-term revenue-sharing contract with the city. The funding was split through a public-private agreement, using a $1 million municipal transportation grant alongside $2 million put up by Tradewinds.

The program also includes a workforce development element, training local students to become certified wireless broadband technicians. Having won the 2025 Mobile Breakthrough Award for Social Impact, Tradewinds Networks aligned the Bellflower Connect project to meet sustainable goals, taking into consideration city health, economic development, innovation, and sustainability.

“This model allows us to aggregate services and delivery while making the network self-sustaining,” said Keith Alexis, chief technology officer and founder of Tradewinds Networks. “We then share revenues back with the community, which enables us to keep up a sustainable ecosystem that drives loyalty and usership. Additionally, our AI-based GuardTower solution runs on Xeon to keep the system secure.”

Bringing Power to the Edge

The secret to keeping user costs so low lies in how the data is handled. Traditional wireless networks rely on sending data back and forth to distant, massive cloud data centers packed with expensive, power-hungry graphics processors. That data journey requires heavy infrastructure and immense electricity, costs that big telecom companies pass on to consumers.

Bellflower Connect skips the cloud entirely. Instead, the network uses a fleet of 80 slim solar towers and repeaters placed around town. Each tower backhauls to central locations that feature compact Dell PowerEdge XR8000 series servers running a 4th Generation Intel Xeon processor. This allows data to be processed right there in the city, and in some cases, on the street corner, a concept known as edge computing.

Because Xeon processors are highly scalable and versatile, they “snap” into these lightweight towers easily, operating at a fraction of the cost, power, and space required by a standard cloud setup.

“By having off-the-shelf Intel Xeon system-on- chip processors directly in the towers, street corner or city facilities versus sending information through the cloud, the system is scalable, modular, and information is processed faster, at a lower cost, and using less power,”
–Vijay Kesavan, a principal engineer for Intel’s Network and Edge Group.

This local computing footprint also creates a digital foundation for future municipal upgrades. According to Kesavan, cities can easily snap new services right into the existing Xeon infrastructure, such as smart street lighting, air quality or traffic sensors, and water utility leak detection.

High Tech at Low Cost

While connection to the network is entirely optional, the financial impact on residents who have been using it has been immediate. Qualifying low-income households receive free internet access through a home modem that links wirelessly to the nearest neighborhood tower. Other residents can opt-in for $15 per month, while local businesses can access the network for $39 per month. Alexis notes that’s far below traditional commercial carriers.

As of May 2026, about 60 households are using the service during its early rollout phase. By the time construction finishes in mid-2027, organizers expect 10,000 households connected to the network. Free public Wi-Fi will also blanket local parks, libraries, and the city’s outdoor markets.

Local business owners are already preparing for the transition. Joe Ung, owner of Cassidy’s Corner Café, is opening a new location in Bellflower that will use the network for his operations and customer Wi-Fi.

“Having easy, affordable, accessible internet is a win-win for everyone,” Ung told KTLA-TV in an interview about the new network in May. “A lot of times people don’t see the everyday expenses of running a small business. Anywhere you can save, it’s a huge benefit.”

Scaling the Blueprint

The expansion beyond California is already underway. Wrightsville, Arkansas, is scheduled to begin Phase 1 of its network installation this summer, with eight additional U.S. cities currently navigating the design review and approval pipeline.

Though the yearlong rollout has faced logistical hurdles, project leaders say the community response validates the effort.

“We’ve had many difficulties assembling the model for this network, from rising costs to delayed fiber delivery,” Alexis said. “But residents have testified about the value they’ve gotten from it in city hall meetings. When installers meet residents who tell them how this is changing their lives, it makes it worth finding solutions to this complex problem.”

The industrial landscape is evolving at an incredible pace. As IT and OT environments continue to converge, the traditional boundaries of network security are shifting, creating both new challenges and significant professional opportunities.

It was a privilege to connect with so many of you at Cisco Live this year to discuss the critical workforce and skills gap in OT security. Whether we spoke during my session or connected on the show floor, the energy around securing our critical infrastructure was palpable.

Recap: CISCOU-1065 – Securing Tomorrow’s Factories

In our session, Securing Tomorrow’s Factories: Developing Essential IIoT Job Skills for Organizational Resilience, we dove deep into the unique security and operational challenges of industrial IoT (IIoT). For those who attended, we explored:

  • The IT/OT gap: We discussed why OT-specific skills are currently among the most sought-after assets in the industry.
  • Hands-on application: We walked through a live, interactive Packet Tracer lab, demonstrating how to model industrial control systems in a simulated environment.
  • The Cisco ecosystem: We highlighted how to leverage the NetAcad’s Industrial IoT curriculum and modules on Cisco U. to upskill yourself and your team. Cisco U. is where you can access a variety of content that meets your needs-whether that’s certification training, product training, tutorials, and much more.
  • Framework development: We looked at actionable ways to become an advocate for workforce development within your own organization.

Your 10-Module OT Security Starter Pack

If you missed the session or want to revisit the material, the best way to continue your journey is by mastering the fundamentals. I recommend these 10 modules on Cisco U. as your essential foundation for understanding OT security:

Visibility & foundations

Segmentation & architecture

Compliance & protection

Keep the Conversation Going

The factories of tomorrow are being built today, and they require secure, resilient networks. The learning doesn’t stop when the event ends. I encourage you to log in to Cisco U., explore these free modules, and continue building the skills necessary to bridge the IT/OT divide.

Thank you to everyone who joined me at Cisco Live. I look forward to seeing how you apply these skills to secure the future of our critical infrastructure.

Too many times we’ve seen or heard a situation where a child falls asleep in the back seat. The driver steps away. Fifteen minutes later, the cabin temperature starts climbing. So, what if somewhere inside the dashboard, the same UWB chip that unlocked the car door when the driver approaches can do something entirely different. Like reading the faint reflections of its own radio pulses bouncing off the child’s chest, detecting the tiny rise and fall of breathing, and triggering an alert before heat becomes danger.

That capability will soon be available in modern production vehicles. The existing Ultra-Wideband (UWB) radio already inside the dashboard is learning a valuable second skill.

UWB has earned its place as the most accurate indoor positioning radio available, delivering centimeter-level distance measurements using time-of-flight (ToF): the time it takes a pulse to travel from one device to another and back. Our decision framework for indoor positioning radios covered the firmware realities of choosing between UWB, Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), and Wi-Fi. That comparison assumed UWB was a ranging radio.

This article, which talks about the next-generation standard, IEEE 802.15.4ab, widens the assumption. With standardized radar sensing, a UWB anchor in a hospital hallway can detect whether an elderly patient has fallen, without a camera in the room. With 30x extended range, fewer anchors cover the same warehouse floor, cutting deployment costs and calibration overhead. Ranging is still there. Radar sensing, extended range, and 18x higher data rates now sit alongside it. For firmware teams, the radio’s job description just expanded, and the software has to keep up.

How UWB Radar Works (With Hardware You Already Know)

If UWB ranging is a conversation, then UWB radar is the echo

UWB ranging is a conversation between two devices. A tag sends a pulse, an anchor replies, and the system measures the round-trip time to calculate distance. Both sides participate.

UWB radar is an echo. One device sends pulses into a room and listens to what bounces back. No second device needed. The reflections carry information: where objects are, whether something is moving, and how far away it sits. What the device captures is called a channel impulse response, or CIR. Think of it as clapping once in an unfamiliar room. Every surface sends back an echo at a slightly different time and volume. A CIR is the full recording of all those echoes at once, preserving the timing and strength of each reflection path.

The physics underneath is the same as ranging: short pulses across a 500 MHz bandwidth. The difference is entirely in what the firmware does with the signal. Ranging firmware reads timestamps and computes distance. Radar firmware reads the CIR and runs detection algorithms: is something present? Is it moving? Is it breathing?

Two parameters control the trade-off. First, more samples per radar sweep extend the detection range from centimeters to several meters. Second, higher sweep rates improve accuracy but cost more power. Even at several meters of detection range, UWB radar draws under 10 milliwatts. That number keeps battery-powered devices on the table.

The practical result: a UWB anchor installed for digital key access can double as a presence sensor. Same hardware. No extra cost.

What IEEE 802.15.4ab Actually Changes

One standard interface, one codebase, less integration work – the engineering payoff!

The current generation of UWB silicon, including Qorvo’s DW3xxx series and NXP’s Trimension platform, is built on IEEE 802.15.4z. That standard defined secure ranging and physical-layer (PHY) security: the lowest level of the radio hardware, where pulses are shaped and timed. It gave firmware teams a reliable foundation. Time-of-flight measurement with distance-bounding that prevents relay attacks (where a thief amplifies your car key signal from a distance to trick the lock into opening). Every production UWB ranging product on the market today runs on 802.15.4z.

IEEE 802.15.4ab is the successor, expected to be officially released in the first half of 2026. It is backward compatible with 802.15.4z, building on the existing foundation rather than discarding it. Going forward, three additions will matter for teams building on UWB:

1. Radar sensing becomes part of the standard: Under 802.15.4z, radar-like sensing was possible but vendor-specific. Qorvo published application notes on CIR-based presence detection using existing DW3xxx hardware. NXP shipped the Trimension SR250 with combined ranging and radar support. Each implementation used proprietary firmware interfaces. 802.15.4ab writes radar into the standard itself, defining how Impulse Radio UWB (IR-UWB) transceivers operate in sensing mode.

That means interoperable radar behavior across chipmakers. Not just interoperable ranging. Ceva is pushing this further: their Ceva-Waves UWB IP, the industry’s first 802.15.4ab-compliant design, supports combined ranging-and-radar sensing on a single silicon block. Because Ceva also licenses edge AI processors (NeuPro) and sensor fusion cores (MotionEngine), chipmakers can place the UWB radio and the radar detection algorithms on the same chip, rather than offloading CIR processing to a separate microcontroller.

For firmware engineers, this collapses two separate worlds into one. Today, your ranging code and your radar code (if you use it) talk to different vendor libraries with different data structures and different timing rules. A standardized radar mode means chipmakers will converge on common interfaces. Your architecture needs to anticipate a unified API (Application Programming Interface, the set of commands your code uses to control the chip) rather than two bolted-together SDKs (Software Development Kits).

2. Secure ranging pushes from pocket distance to building scale: Current 802.15.4z secure ranging works reliably at close proximity: digital keys, item finders, short-range access control. 802.15.4ab introduces multi-millisecond (MMS) ranging techniques. Instead of a single fast pulse exchange, MMS accumulates multiple measurements over a longer window, trading speed for signal gain. The result is more range at the same transmit power, and the early numbers suggest the gain is substantial.

How much more range are we talking about? Ceva’s 802.15.4ab-compliant UWB IP, announced on March 10, 2026, claims up to 30x range extension over current 802.15.4z. That moves UWB from “is the user next to the door?” to “where in this space are they?” UWB still works best within line-of-sight or through lightweight partitions, so “this space” means a floor, a warehouse zone, or an open facility rather than through concrete walls and steel framing. It pushes UWB into territory held by Wi-Fi Round-Trip Time (RTT) positioning and BLE Angle of Arrival (AoA), but with UWB’s inherent accuracy and security.

For firmware teams, longer-range sessions consume more energy per cycle, making your sleep and wake scheduling more consequential. Your power model has to account for these longer windows.

For decision-makers, the implication is simpler: UWB can now cover warehouse-scale and campus-scale spaces where teams previously had to fall back on BLE or Wi-Fi. Fewer compromises on accuracy, fewer radios to manage.

3. Data rates jump 18x: Current UWB devices communicate at 6.8 Megabits per second (Mbps). 802.15.4ab supports up to roughly 125 Mbps. That opens up use cases that pure ranging applications never needed: low-latency audio transport, richer protocol exchanges, and combined sessions where a single UWB transaction delivers both a position fix and a data payload.

For most Real-Time Location System (RTLS) and access control firmware, 6.8 Mbps has been more than enough. But if your product roadmap includes streaming sensor data alongside ranging, or pushing firmware updates over UWB rather than a separate BLE link, the additional bandwidth changes what your radio can carry.

In practice, you end up with one radio link that handles positioning, data transfer, and firmware updates. That is fewer radios in the design and fewer integration headaches in the field.

The volume signal underneath all of this: Grand View Research projects the global UWB market to grow at a CAGR of 18.9% from 2024 to 2030, reaching $4.37 billion by 2030 from an estimated $1.40 billion base in 2023. The ecosystem is moving. Also, Ceva’s announcement signals that compliant silicon IP is available for licensing now, meaning chipmakers can integrate it into next-generation Systems on Chip (SoCs: single chips combining processor, radio, and memory). Production parts built on 802.15.4ab are a design cycle away.

What This Demands From Your Firmware

Future-proof your architecture today or get ready for post-shipping reworks

Here is where the standard meets the code your team writes.

a) Dual-mode scheduling: If your transceiver supports both ranging and radar, your Real-Time Operating System (RTOS: the software layer that decides when each task on the chip gets to run) has to manage two types of radio sessions with different timing profiles.

Think of it as air traffic control for a runway shared by two kinds of aircraft. Ranging sessions are the small fast jets: short bursts, tight timing, nanosecond-level precision. Radar sweeps are the heavy cargo planes: longer windows, more data collected, a different processing pipeline on the ground. Interleaving them without collision is a scheduling problem that ranging-only firmware never had to solve.

b) A new signal processing layer: Ranging firmware reads timestamps from the transceiver. Radar firmware reads CIR data: arrays of amplitude and phase samples that need filtering, thresholding, and classification to extract meaning (is someone present, are they moving, are they breathing). These are algorithmic problems that require more flash memory and RAM. If your current firmware barely fits in a DW3xxx’s companion microcontroller (MCU: the small processor running your tag’s software), radar processing will force a hardware reassessment.

c) Power budget complexity: A tag that ranges every 500 milliseconds has a predictable power profile. Add radar sweeps every 2 seconds and the profile shifts. Add adaptive logic that triggers radar only when ranging detects proximity, and the profile becomes state-dependent. Your power model needs to account for these layered modes. Otherwise, battery life estimates built for ranging alone will miss the mark.

d) The abstraction question: This one is about future-proofing. An abstraction layer in firmware works like a standard electrical outlet in a house. You plug in any appliance without rewiring the wall. Without that standard interface, every new device would mean tearing open the drywall. If your firmware talks directly to a 802.15.4z transceiver without a clean hardware abstraction layer between them, swapping in an 802.15.4ab chip later will mean rewriting that boundary. A few days of architecture work today prevents a quarter of rework after your product ships.

What This Unlocks

Automotive child presence detection: The European New Car Assessment Programme (Euro NCAP), the body that rates vehicle safety, have started tightening their scoring of vehicles on child presence detection (CPD) systems from 2025 onward. UWB radar detects micro-movements like breathing inside a cabin using the same anchor hardware as the digital key. No extra sensors. This is the first application where UWB radar will ship at volume, because regulation demands it.

Occupancy sensing without cameras: UWB radar detects presence and motion without capturing images. For healthcare facilities (fall detection in elder care), enterprise buildings (meeting room utilization), and smart buildings (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning automation), that privacy advantage changes the deployment conversation entirely.

Sparser infrastructure for indoor positioning: With 30x range improvement, fewer anchors cover the same floor space. Fewer anchors means lower deployment cost and less calibration overhead. Those two factors have been UWB’s most persistent adoption barriers.

Planning for What Comes Next

If your team is mid-development on 802.15.4z, finish your product. The current silicon is stable and proven. But design your firmware with enough abstraction that the next chip does not demand a rewrite.

However, if you are in early product definition, factor in the widening value proposition. A radio that does ranging today and radar tomorrow carries a different cost-benefit weight than ranging alone.

Now, if your team is designing UWB firmware and wants to stress-test the architecture against what 802.15.4ab will demand, embedUR runs 30-minute architecture reviews. The review maps your requirements to firmware topology, models your power budget, and flags where your abstraction layer needs room to grow. That conversation costs less than the rework it prevents.

Which is cheaper for your team: the abstraction layer now, or the rewrite later?

AUSTIN, Texas, June 16, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Silicon Labs (NASDAQ: SLAB), the leading innovator in low-power wireless connectivity, today announced the successful deployment and operation of a 200-node Matter-over-Thread validation network, demonstrating the scalability, reliability and performance of Matter for large-scale smart building, commercial IoT and next-generation smart home applications.

Announced at the Connectivity Standards Alliance’s (CSA) inaugural Unify event, this highlights a key evolution in the Matter ecosystem: the industry is moving beyond proving interoperability and toward demonstrating scalability for real-world deployments. Silicon Labs’ 200-node Matter-over-Thread validation network provides evidence that Matter can support the larger, more complex environments expected in commercial buildings, multi-dwelling units and next-generation smart home installations.

“Matter is rapidly evolving from a smart home technology into a platform capable of supporting much larger deployments,” said Daniel Cooley, Chief Technology Officer at Silicon Labs. “This work demonstrates not only that Matter-over-Thread can theoretically scale to thousands of devices, but also how Silicon Labs is helping customers deploy, manage and future-proof those networks through innovations spanning Matter, Thread, and Concurrent Multiprotocol technologies.”

Largest Public Validation Network Demonstrates Matter Scalability for Industrial and Commercial Applications

Believed to be among the largest publicly documented Matter-over-Thread performance test networks to date, the deployment was designed to evaluate how Matter performs as networks expand beyond traditional residential use cases. Unlike a controlled laboratory simulation, the network operated across Silicon Labs’ Boston Connectivity Lab and office environment, with devices distributed throughout the facility and exposed to real-world wireless conditions including active Wi‑Fi, Bluetooth and Thread traffic. The network tested multicast messaging, unicast communications, commissioning workflows and long-term network stability under deployment-like conditions.

The validation effort reflects Silicon Labs’ ongoing commitment to advancing the Matter ecosystem and helping device manufacturers confidently deploy Matter-enabled products at scale. As one of the industry’s leading contributors to Matter, Silicon Labs provides wireless SoCs, software, development tools Thread Border Routers based on the OpenThread implementation, certification resources and ecosystem support that help developers accelerate Matter adoption from concept through production.

The results come as the Matter ecosystem continues to mature and expand. Silicon Labs supports the latest Matter specifications, including Matter 1.6 capabilities that broaden device interoperability, expand supported device categories and enable new smart home and smart building experiences. Through its comprehensive Matter portfolio, Silicon Labs helps developers build products that work seamlessly across major ecosystems while simplifying development, certification and deployment.

Key findings from the 200-node Matter-over-Thread validation network include:

  • Successful deployment and sustained operation of a 200-node Matter-over-Thread network in a real-world office environment.
  • 100% commissioning success using on-network commissioning.
  • Reliable multicast and multi-hop unicast communications with mean multicast latencies as low as 87 ms and less than 1% packet loss across most payload sizes.
  • Consistent operation despite active Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and Thread traffic, with no specialized topology engineering required.
  • Validation that Matter-over-Thread can support commercial-scale lighting, building automation and large IoT deployments.

Silicon Labs OpenThread Border Router and Concurrent Multiprotocol Technology Provide Stable Matter Foundation

The 200-node Matter-over-Thread validation network was built using the OpenThread Border Router (OTBR) implementation, which provided the Thread network infrastructure used to commission and manage devices participating in the test. As Matter-over-Thread deployments scale, Border Routers play a critical role in securely connecting Thread devices to controllers, cloud services and broader IP networks. Silicon Labs provides developers with OTBR solutions and development resources that help simplify deployment of large Matter networks.

The results also reinforce the value of Silicon Labs’ leadership in Concurrent Multiprotocol (CMP), a technology pioneered by Silicon Labs that enables devices to simultaneously support multiple wireless protocols on a single radio. CMP enables support for both Zigbee and Matter-over-Thread networks within the same device, helping manufacturers simplify migrations while preserving compatibility with existing deployments and future-proofing product portfolios.

This capability allows manufacturers to support current customer installations while preparing for future Matter adoption, reducing development complexity, streamlining inventory management and enabling a smoother transition between ecosystems. Silicon Labs supports CMP across its latest wireless platforms, including MG26 and Series 3 devices, helping developers build interoperable products that span multiple wireless ecosystems.

The complete Matter Large Network Performance report is available at: https://www.silabs.com/wireless/matter/matter-over-thread-large-network-performance-testing.

About Silicon Labs

Silicon Labs (NASDAQ: SLAB) is the leading innovator in low-power connectivity, building embedded technology that connects devices and improves lives. Merging cutting-edge technology into the world’s most highly integrated SoCs, Silicon Labs provides device makers with the solutions, support, and ecosystems needed to create advanced edge connectivity applications. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, Silicon Labs has operations in over 16 countries and is the trusted partner for innovative solutions in smart home, industrial IoT, and smart cities markets. Learn more at https://www.silabs.com.

SOURCE Silicon Labs

Meet NETGEAR Align Controller

From network infrastructure to AV platform – starting here

For a decade, NETGEAR has been the switching backbone that AV-over-IP runs on. Now we’re building the layer above it — turning AV infrastructure into an open, cloud-managed application platform. Meet the NETGEAR Align Controller, the first platform purpose-built for what AV networks actually need above the switch layer.

Built for AV

The Align Controller runs NETGEAR Engage and the NETGEAR AV OS, software engineered from the ground up for how AV traffic behaves on a network. And it’s backed by a partner ecosystem of over 600 manufacturers, with real interoperability testing behind every profile, so when an integrator specifies a deployment, they can be confident everything works together before they touch it on-site. Deployments that once took hours are now plug-and-play. Management that used to require a truck roll is now remote, from anywhere in the world.

And this is just the beginning. The platform is designed to grow, supporting third-party applications alongside NETGEAR’s own, and evolving alongside every installation it supports. Ten years of building the foundation. Now we’re building what goes on top of it.

One box, endless applications

The NETGEAR Align Controller is the first dedicated appliance to host NETGEAR Engage, NETGEAR’s AV network management platform for designing, configuring, and managing AV-over-IP deployments. But it goes further than management. Precision timing and core network services, functions that have always required separate devices, are built right in. The Align Controller runs as a grandmaster clock and supports PTPv2, SMPTE ST 2110, gPTP AVB, and AES67. NTP, DNS, DHCP, and Syslog services are also built in. One device instead of four.

For integrators, the impact is immediate: less time configuring infrastructure, more time focused on the deployment itself. For end users, it means a more stable, resilient network from day one.

Remote Engage access

Since NETGEAR Engage launched, the question we’ve heard from integrators more than any other has been: “Can we access it remotely?” The NETGEAR Align Controller is the answer. It supports secure remote access to Engage for up to five concurrent users via the NETGEAR Insight portal (license required) and allows them to configure, monitor, and troubleshoot without having to be on-site.

The NETGEAR Align Controller starts shipping in August 2026. Simply connect it to an existing switch using PoE++, no dedicated power circuit needed, and it’s ready to go. It’s half-width 1U, so there’s room for a backup unit even when rack space is tight. Full specs can be accessed here.

Also new: Wi-Fi 7 access points

The NETGEAR Align Controller is the headline at InfoComm this year, but it’s not the only thing at booth N7011.

The WBE708 is NETGEAR’s new Wi-Fi 7 access point for professional AV environments, built for the density, latency, and reliability that AV-over-IP demands. The WBE708Y is an outdoor model for more demanding physical installations. Both will be at the booth.

The two new M4350 models will also be on hand. The M4350-16M4V is built for broadcast and live production, with Neutrik® locking connectors to prevent disconnections during load-in and live events. The M4350-16C offers 16 100G ports for high-demand aggregation. Both started shipping this spring.

Come see it all at InfoComm

InfoComm runs June 17–19 at the Las Vegas Convention Center. Stop by booth N7011 to see the Align Controller running live, along with our new access points and switches. If you’re not yet registered, head to infocommshow.org and use code NET624 for a free exhibit hall pass.

Or you can discover the Align Controller at InfoComm Asia booth A01 in halls 3 – 4 (July 15–17, Bangkok) and InfoComm India, booth H27 in pavilion 1-3 (September 16–18, Mumbai)

 

The Benefits of AI-Driven Wi-Fi Systems

As Wi-Fi deployments scale across campuses, enterprises, industrial environments, and smart buildings, network complexity is increasing faster than traditional management approaches can handle. This shift is driving strong momentum toward autonomous, AI-driven network operations that improve spectrum efficiency, network resilience, and user and device management.

For years, wireless innovation was largely measured by throughput, as each new generation of Wi-Fi promised higher data rates and greater capacity. While performance remains important, the industry’s priorities have shifted. Wi-Fi 8 represents a move toward experience-centric networking, where reliability, consistency, and intelligent operation matter as much as raw speed.

Delivering these capabilities requires more than simply adding an AI accelerator to an access point. Practical AI workloads depend on a well-balanced system. Compute resources must be matched with sufficient memory, bandwidth, and telemetry collection capabilities. A powerful processor alone cannot deliver meaningful intelligence if the system cannot efficiently move, store, and analyze data.

This becomes increasingly important as AI moves deeper into the network edge. Modern access points are evolving into intelligent platforms capable of running sophisticated analytics and decision-making functions locally. These systems can process network conditions in real time, reducing dependence on cloud-based support and enabling faster responses to changing environments.

At the center of this transformation is closed-loop AI. Rather than relying on manual configuration and reactive troubleshooting, closed-loop systems continuously observe network behavior, evaluate outcomes, and independently take corrective action. They then refine those actions based on measured results. This creates a network that can proactively optimize itself.

Instead of waiting for users to report poor performance, AI can identify emerging issues, adjust configurations, allocate resources, and improve the user experience before disruptions occur. As networks grow larger and more dynamic, this capability becomes essential rather than optional.

The role of the access point will also continue to expand. While connectivity remains foundational, future platforms will support a broader range of AI-driven services, including natural language interfaces that allow network administrators to interact with the network using conversational commands. For home users who are not network engineers, this capability offers significant benefits.

The next generation of Wi-Fi will deliver networks that can understand, adapt, and optimize themselves. As Wi-Fi 8 emerges and AI capabilities continue to mature, access points are becoming the intelligent edge infrastructure that will power the next generation of connected experiences.

Read the full white paper to learn more.

Co-working spaces live and die by experience. Wi‑Fi is part of the product.

But unlike traditional offices, co-working environments have a constant flow of temporary users:

  • day passes
  • meeting room guests
  • event attendees
  • short-term members

That creates a unique challenge: keep Wi‑Fi fast and easy, but still secure and governed.

This guide outlines a practical approach.

Step 1: Treat Wi‑Fi as part of the member experience

Members expect seamless access. Guests expect quick onboarding. Your team needs fewer interruptions.

A modern co-working Wi‑Fi setup should reduce friction while maintaining control.

Step 2: Use fast, secure onboarding to get temporary users online

Fast, secure onboarding is especially valuable in co-working because it supports rotating visitors.

Instead of relying on shared passwords, you can use a controlled onboarding flow that:

  • improves the visitor experience
  • reduces front-desk workload
  • supports better access governance

Step 3: Add visitor access control + acceptable-use compliance

Co-working spaces often need a middle ground:

  • don’t make visitors fill out long forms
  • do present acceptable-use expectations
  • do apply practical session controls

This helps reduce abuse and keeps performance stable for everyone.

Step 4: Keep separate networks on a single SSID

A simple SSID is better for users.

But behind the scenes, you may want separation for:

  • members
  • guests
  • staff/admin devices

Supporting separate networks on a single SSID helps you keep the experience simple while maintaining the segmentation you need.

Step 5: Support multi-location member accounts

For multi-site co-working brands, a consistent experience matters.

Member accounts can be used across multiple locations so returning members can get online quickly, while you maintain the access rules you need by site.

Step 6 (Optional): Enable self-serve paid access with payments on the splash page

If you sell day passes, meeting rooms, or event access, letting visitors pay directly on the splash page can:

  • reduce staff involvement
  • improve conversion (fewer steps)
  • create a clean, self-managed experience

Step 7 (Optional): Add incremental revenue via ad/sponsor placements

If it aligns with your brand, Wi‑Fi can support optional ad/sponsor placements during the connection experience.

Some spaces use this for:

  • partner perks
  • local business sponsorships
  • event sponsors

A simple next step

If you’d like, we can do a short walkthrough for your company:

  • What’s your mix of members vs day-pass users?
  • Do you rent meeting rooms or host events?
  • Do you want self-serve paid access?
  • Do you need member/guest/staff segmentation?
  • Do members use multiple locations?
  • What compliance or governance requirements do you have?

HOUSTON, TX — (06/15/26) — WorldVue, a trusted provider of video, advanced connectivity, and professional services, today announced the official release of Atlas, a next-generation customer platform designed to bring visibility, control, and intelligence to hotel technology operations, while laying the foundation for a Property Technology Operating System.

Built to unify data across essential WorldVue systems, Atlas now delivers a more powerful and transparent experience for both customers and internal teams. More than a dashboard, Atlas represents a fundamental shift in how hotel technology is managed. It provides operators with a centralized system to monitor performance, manage services, and act; transforming fragmented processes into a structured, trackable, and data-driven experience.

“Atlas represents a major step forward in how we think about technology in hospitality. We built it to simplify complexity, scale globally, and give our customers a platform they can rely on today while being ready for what’s next. This launch reflects our commitment to building smarter, more connected experiences without adding operational burden,” said Mark Schaps, Executive Vice President and Chief Informational Officer.

Atlas delivers immediate value with a robust set of features designed for both portfolio-level oversight and property-level detail:

  • Portfolio Dashboard — A centralized view of all properties, with device and network summaries and sortable portfolio insights
  • Property Overview — A dedicated page for each property with real-time system health and performance visibility
  • Network Monitoring — Detailed visibility into equipment across categories including access points, modems, displays, networking gear, and TV services, with drill-down analytics
  • Deployments — Tracking of active and planned equipment deployments across properties
  • Opportunities — Visibility into sales opportunities at both the portfolio and property level
  • Support — Full case management, including equipment requests and historical tracking, accessible across all properties

WorldVue customers will be provided with an onboarding experience to provide the proper communication and documentation for the owner or operator to feel fully informed.

As Atlas continues to develop, WorldVue is building toward a future where operators can manage every aspect of their technology ecosystem, assets, vendors, services, performance, and cost, from a single platform. Upcoming capabilities include proposal management, lifecycle inventory, end-of-life equipment document repository and agnostic vendor management regardless if it is a WorldVue serviced product.

Atlas is built for flexibility, with web-based access today and dedicated iOS and Android applications now available to all WorldVue customers. WorldVue is ensuring operators can stay connected to their technology from anywhere.

“We’re not just improving visibility, we’re redefining how technology is managed at the property, portfolio or even brand level,” added Schaps. “Atlas is the first step toward giving our customers complete control over their technology environment.”

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ABOUT WORLDVUE

WorldVue® is a trusted provider of video, advanced connectivity and professional services to properties and enterprises across the world. With a dedication to customer service, WorldVue is leading the way in delivering innovative technology solutions that enhance the resident, guest, and staff experience. From managed services to digital transformation, WorldVue is a single point of contact for all property technology needs.

Founded in 1975, WorldVue is a privately held company headquartered in the United States with offices globally. The company serves over 8,000 properties and over 1,000,000 rooms.

Media Contact:
Reagan Baker
[email protected]

Ella Steele

Many hotel brands are moving toward agentic operations. Agentic operations use artificial intelligence to continuously monitor hotel networks, identify potential issues, and take corrective action before guests or events are impacted. Instead of reacting after complaints or service tickets appear, AI-driven Wi-Fi helps hotels reduce risk, protect revenue, and improve operational efficiency across the property.

How Agentic Operations Help Hotels Protect Event Revenue and Guest Experience

Why Hotel Networks Are Now a Revenue Issue

Hotel networks play a direct role in guest satisfaction, event success, and revenue performance. From guest rooms and public spaces to ballrooms and conference centers, reliable Wi‑Fi is a core part of the hospitality experience.

At the same time, hotel IT teams face growing pressure. Guest expectations for seamless, always‑on connectivity continue to rise, while conferences and events allow zero tolerance for disruption. Ballooning device counts across guest rooms, meeting spaces, and event venues demand reliable, low‑latency connectivity, and increasing IT complexity, staffing constraints, and rising energy costs make it harder to keep up using traditional, reactive network operations.

While conferences are a high‑value and visible revenue stream, the same network challenges also affect guest satisfaction, digital services, and repeat stays across the property, making connectivity a critical driver of overall hotel revenue.

This is why many hotel brands are moving toward agentic operations. Agentic operations use artificial intelligence to continuously monitor hotel networks, identify potential issues, and take corrective action before guests or events are impacted. Instead of reacting after complaints or service tickets appear, AI‑driven Wi‑Fi helps hotels reduce risk, protect revenue, and improve operational efficiency across the property.

The Hidden Cost of Poor Wi‑Fi at Conferences

Nowhere is network reliability more critical than during conferences and events. For large hotels and convention properties, the financial exposure is significant. The typical Tier‑1 brand with approximately 320,000 square feet of conference space hosting around 50 events per year can generate about $32 million in event revenue over a three‑year period.

When Wi‑Fi issues disrupt events, even a small number of refunds or aggressive discounts can impact the bottom line. If just 1 percent of event revenue is refunded due to connectivity problems, that represents approximately $320,000 in lost revenue over three years.

Beyond immediate financial loss, poor event experiences reduce customer satisfaction, weaken brand loyalty, and put future bookings at risk.

Why Reactive Network Operations Fail in Hospitality

Traditional network operations rely on alerts, dashboards, and manual troubleshooting. Issues are often identified only after guests complain or events are already impacted. This approach does not scale in hospitality because:

  • Event traffic patterns change rapidly, both from event to event and throughout the day as attendees move between general sessions, breakouts, and shared spaces.
  • Hundreds or thousands of devices connect simultaneously
  • Guest, staff, and IoT systems share the same infrastructure
  • Manual intervention takes too long during live events
  • By the time IT teams respond, the guest experience and revenue impact has already occurred.

How Agentic Operations Change the Model

Agentic operations move hotels from reactive troubleshooting to proactive prevention.

Instead of simply reporting issues, AI agents continuously monitor network conditions, detect early indicators of congestion or instability, and plan and apply corrective actions automatically. Performance is validated in real time, with human‑in‑the‑loop oversight to maintain guardrails, brand standards, and operational control.

Conference center example

During a large conference, dense device usage, temporary layouts, and high‑bandwidth applications can quickly degrade performance. An agentic approach continuously monitors conditions across meeting and event spaces, detects early signs of congestion, and automatically adjusts the network before presenters, exhibitors, or attendees are impacted, helping protect both the event experience and the revenue tied to it.

Operational Efficiency and Sustainability at the Same Time

Agentic operations also help hotels address three persistent pressures: increasing IT complexity, staffing constraints, and rising energy costs.

Automated troubleshooting and centralized visibility reduce manual intervention and simplify day‑to‑day network operations, allowing IT teams to manage more properties effectively. Intelligent power management reduces energy usage in vacant rooms and underutilized conference spaces, supporting sustainability goals without compromising performance.

Purpose‑Built AI for Hospitality Networking

RUCKUS delivers a unified hospitality networking foundation that combines AI‑driven operations with modern Wi‑Fi infrastructure.

  • RUCKUS One™ Hospitality Edition provides centralized visibility and AI‑driven insights across properties. RUCKUS is bringing to market an integration with the Oracle OPERA Property Management System (PMS), leveraging APIs to enable secure access and a seamless guest experience by automating Wi‑Fi connectivity tied to check‑in and check‑out, reducing operational overhead and costs.

RUCKUS One screen shot

  • RUCKUS AI, includes Digital Systems Engineer (DSE), a conversational AI assistant that enables IT teams to interact with the network using natural language for proactive troubleshooting, automated remediation, and consistent performance across guest rooms, public spaces, and event venues.RUCKUS AI also automatically optimizes access point power consumption in vacant rooms and underutilized conference spaces, helping hotels improve reliability, control energy costs, and support sustainability goals.

RUCKUS One screen shot

  • Wi-Fi 7 Access Points, including the new R575 and H375 expand the RUCKUS portfolio with high‑performance connectivity designed for guest rooms, conference centers, ballrooms, lobbies, and event venues. These access points support higher efficiency and density, complementing AI‑driven operations and providing a straightforward upgrade path for hotels modernizing their networks.

Together, AI‑driven operations and Wi‑Fi 7 infrastructure help hotels deliver reliable connectivity at scale while simplifying operations and protecting high‑value event revenue.

See Agentic Operations at HITEC 2026

RUCKUS is at HITEC this week showcasing how AI‑driven Wi‑Fi helps hotels reduce risk, protect conference revenue, and simplify operations. Read the full announcement.

Visit RUCKUS at HITEC
June 15–18, 2026 | Booth #1843
Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center

Or explore RUCKUS hospitality solutions online to see how agentic operations improve outcomes across your property.