Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. today unveiled the Qualcomm® Immersive Home Platforms, a successor to the company’s groundbreaking mesh networking platforms. Designed to deploy Gigabit-speed wireless performance to every room in the home in form factors as small as the palm of the hand, these devices are cost-effective enough to target low consumer price points. This engineering feat is achieved through a novel modular architecture approach, significant advancements in network packet processing technology and an integration of next-generation Wi-Fi 6 and 6E.

In the face of skyrocketing home data demand, Immersive Home Platforms offer four distinct product tiers. These tiers grant unprecedented design flexibility to manufacturers and broadband carriers motivated to embrace Wi-Fi 6 and 6E mesh architectures comprehensively across their entire product portfolio. As home network performance has become mission critical, Qualcomm Technologies is meeting the challenge to provide corner-to-corner Gigabit wireless performance, in an effort to ensure every meeting is productive, every classroom is engaged, and every device is connected.

“We have launched the Qualcomm Immersive Home platforms, a fresh approach to home networking leveraging high powered Wi-Fi 6 and 6E, a fresh architectural design customized for home deployments, and advanced features designed to deliver Gigabit performance to every corner of the home,” said Nick Kucharewski, vice president and general manager, Wireless Infrastructure & Networking, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. “Today, as offices, classrooms, movie theatres, and everything in between move into the home, high performance Wi-Fi has transitioned from luxury to mission critical utility.”

“Before COVID-19, the proliferation of Wi-Fi-enabled products in the home and increasingly HD, 4k, and soon 8k video meant an increasing focus on more capable Wi-Fi access points by consumers and service providers,” said Phil Solis, research director at IDC. “During the COVID-19 pandemic, network needs became even more pronounced with many Wi-Fi networks stressed by the shift to more work, education, and entertainment from home. Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E mesh network solutions such as the Qualcomm Immersive Home Platforms are critical to enabling Wi-Fi access point vendors to be provide the range, data rates, and capacity now required in many homes.”

“Wi-Fi’s popularity has created increasingly diverse and densely populated Wi-Fi environments, including home networks which must now support many demanding applications simultaneously,” said Kevin Robinson, senior vice president of Marketing, Wi-Fi Alliance. “The capabilities of Wi-Fi 6E, such as gigabit speeds, low latency, and high capacity, will benefit users where they now need it most and allow Wi-Fi devices to operate efficiently in the most dynamic home connectivity settings.”

“While everyone now understands the incredible importance of Wi-Fi networks in work-from-home and learn-from-home environments, not everyone knows about the benefits that modern Wi-Fi mesh networks can provide,” said Bob O’Donnell, president and Chief Analyst, TECHnalysis Research, LLC. “In addition, not every household has the same requirements. The beauty of a modular platform is that it lets OEMs and consumers tackle everything from forward-looking massive bandwidth applications using 6GHz Wi-Fi 6E to tiny mesh extenders that can inconspicuously bring stronger traditional Wi-Fi signals to every room in a home.”

Qualcomm Immersive Home 310 Series

Representing the Qualcomm® Tri-Band Wi-Fi 6 platforms within the portfolio, the 310 Series offerings are designed to simultaneously leverage all three bands of spectrum to support IoT-class devices (2.4GHz), today’s legacy media devices (5GHz), and enable congestion-relieving migration of node-to-node backhaul traffic from 5GHz to the 6GHz band, while ensuring the network is prepared to support devices supporting emerging 6GHz applications (VR/XR, live video sharing/streaming, real-time gaming).

• Qualcomm Immersive Home 318 Platform:
  • Advanced 8-stream Tri-Band in a 2×2 (2.4GHz) + 2×2 (5GHz) + 4×4 (6GHz) configuration, for a total of 7.8 Gbps total available PHY rate.
  • Multi-gigabit wireless throughput for high performance clients.
  • Support for 160 MHz channels in 5/6GHz bands
  • 4×4 Wi-Fi 6E configuration in the 6GHz band delivers enhanced performance, range, and/or client count
• Qualcomm Immersive Home 316 Platform:
  • Advanced 6-stream Tri-Band in a 2×2 (2.4GHz) + 2×2 (5GHz) + 2×2 (6GHz) configuration, for a total of 5.4 Gbps total available PHY rate.
  • Multi-gigabit wireless throughput for high performance clients.
  • Support for 160 MHz channels in 5/6GHz bands

Qualcomm Immersive Home 210 Series

Representing the Dual-Band Wi-Fi 6 platforms within the portfolio, these offerings are designed to offer immediate and significant performance and cost benefits to existing mesh providers.

• Qualcomm Immersive Home 216 Platform:
  • Innovative 6-stream Wi-Fi 6 in a 2×2 (2.4GHz) + 4×4 (5GHz) configuration, for a total of 5.4 Gbps total available PHY rate.
  • Multi-gigabit wireless throughput for high performance clients.
  • Support for 160 MHz channels in 5GHz bands
  • 4×4 Wi-Fi 6 configuration in the 5GHz band delivers enhanced performance, range, and/or client count
• Qualcomm Immersive Home 214 Platform:
  • Innovative 4-stream Wi-Fi 6 in a 2×2 (2.4GHz) + 2×2 (5GHz) configuration, for a total of 3.0 Gbps total available PHY rate.
  • Multi-gigabit wireless throughput for high performance clients.
  • Support for 160 MHz channels in 5GHz bands

In both dual and tri-band series, Qualcomm Immersive Home Platforms bring significant differentiation derived from decades of R&D and proven infrastructure engineering expertise across multiple proprietary connectivity portfolios, including:

• High performance integration and optimization: Qualcomm Immersive Home Platforms can deliver Gigabit wireless in a form factor highly optimized for size, scale and performance. For instance, when compared to Qualcomm® IPQ4xxx family (found in the majority of Wi-Fi 5-generation mesh systems), Qualcomm Immersive Home Platforms can deliver 2.5X throughput per watt – a system-level optimization that keeps industrial designs small, heat profiles cool, and overall device costs low.
• Broad Wi-Fi technology support: Qualcomm Immersive Home Platforms are built to deliver seamless roaming, band/node client steering, and advanced security safeguards across Wi-Fi 4, 5, 6, 6E, and support many of the industry’s leading mesh software protocols including Qualcomm® Wi-Fi SON, the OpenSync™ open-source software, eero’s TrueMesh and the Wi-Fi Alliance’s Wi-Fi CERTIFIED EasyMesh™ standard.
• Powerful smart home integration capabilities: Qualcomm Immersive Home Platforms feature advanced Qualcomm^® Multi-User Traffic Management technologies to balance and support all the Wi-Fi connected devices in a modern smart home, while high-performance Bluetooth integration enables seamless onboarding and integration of advanced applications leveraging either connectivity technology.
• Ultra-low latency enabled: Qualcomm Immersive Home Platforms can support, in certain configurations with 6GHz operation, a new class of emerging latency-sensitive applications like mobile gaming and XR through latency reduction up to 8x in congested environments and wireless VR-class latency of <3ms.

Askey
“Askey customers demand high-performance home networks that make working and schooling from home as seamless as streaming their favorite movies. This means ultra-fast, reliable Wi-Fi performance and robust security components. We look forward to continued collaboration with Qualcomm Technologies and the Qualcomm Immersive Home Platforms to continuously evolve the seamless, connected experiences our customers demand,” said Robert Lin, CEO, Askey Computer Corp.

AVM
“Last-mile technologies such as fiber, coax or even DSL are now reaching the Gigabit mark. These superfast speeds are increasingly becoming a matter of course in the home. We welcome the Qualcomm Immersive Home Platforms, which will give Mesh Wi-Fi a tremendous boost and ensures future-proof performance for wireless communication,” says Peter Faxel, CTO at AVM.

Belkin
“At Linksys, our mission is to build innovative, future-ready wireless technologies that will someday connect every person and everything in the world, effortlessly, reliably, and securely,” said L.C. Wu, chief operating officer, Connected Home Division (Linksys Wemo, Phyn), Belkin International. “Linksys consumers demand high-performance networks that make working and schooling from home a seamless experience. We look forward to continued collaboration with Qualcomm Technologies to endlessly evolve our portfolios bringing more Wi-Fi 6 and new Wi-Fi 6E products to consumers. Wi-Fi 6E will take our Intelligent Mesh technology to the next level.”

Cognitive Systems
“The launch of the Qualcomm Immersive Home Platform is an advancement for Wi-Fi beyond just better performance,” said Taj Manku, CEO and Co-Founder of Cognitive Systems. “The new platform also enables WiFi Motion™ sensingapplications like home monitoring that bring meaningful value to Wi-Fi users and provide peace of mind beyond just connectivity. We are proud to be a partner with Qualcomm Technologies and appreciate its collaboration to bolster advanced Wi-Fi technologies like WiFi Motion.”

EnGenius
“As the demand for faster connectivity continues to grow, we are excited to expand our Wi-Fi 6 solutions to support consumers growing demands within their homes,” said Eric Chen, director of sales and marketing at EnGenius.  “With the Immersive Home Platform from Qualcomm supporting our devices, we are bringing the power of Wi-Fi 6 to consumers to meet the ever-growing demands for building future-proof wireless networks within their homes.”

eero
“Increasingly our customers are working from home, helping kids with online learning, video-chatting with friends and family, and streaming and gaming in 4K,” said Nick Weaver, Co-Founder and CEO of eero. “They need fast, reliable and secure wifi to deliver these experiences and we look forward to continued collaboration with Qualcomm Technologies to provide the performance our customers expect.”

Netgear
“NETGEAR customers demand high-performance home networks that make working and schooling from home as seamless as streaming their favorite movies. This means ultra-fast, reliable Wi-Fi performance for every connected device in the home. We look forward to continued collaboration with Qualcomm Technologies to continuously evolve the seamless, connected experiences our customers demand with Wi-Fi 6E,” said David Henry, senior vice president, Connected Home at NETGEAR.

Plume
“The foundation of Plume’s Consumer Experience Management Platform is based on intelligent cloud controlled OpenSync™-enabled devices,” says Sri Nathan, vice president of Plume Business Development. “Qualcomm Technologies’ Immersive Home Platform products ensure the capacity and controls for flawless connectivity in the home, allowing ISPs to deliver new services, over the top with confidence.”

TP-Link
“We’re excited about Qualcomm Technologies’ announcement of the Qualcomm Immersive Home Platforms and recognize how it will further promote the adoption of Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E,” said Pingji Li, general manager of TP-Link Consumer and Enterprise BU. “TP-Link customers will experience more diversified mesh networking devices, offering ultra-fast, reliable Wi-Fi and robust security. Thanks to our collaboration with Qualcomm Technologies, everyone can embrace the trend of connecting everything.”

WNC
“With our Wi-Fi 6E tri-band mesh router, WNC offers a product line that pushes the boundaries of the ordinary. By integrating Qualcomm Technologies’ Immersive Home Platform, we enable our customers to benefit from the latest improvements in mesh networking, including high speeds and Wi-Fi 6 management, creating a most powerful and robust home network,” said Chun Lee, president of WNC’s Global Business Development Division.

Xiaomi
“With our Xiaomi AIoT Wi-Fi 6 Router products, Xiaomi has designed a line that pushes the boundaries of ordinary. By integrating the Qualcomm Immersive Home Platforms, we will allow our customers to benefit from the latest improvements in mesh networking, including high speeds and Wi-Fi 6 management, creating a more powerful and robust home network,” said Xinyu Liu, general manager of Intelligent Hardware Division, Xiaomi.

Qualcomm Immersive Home Platforms are sampling now to customers. For more information about our Wi-Fi 6 and 6E products for the home, visit Qualcomm WiFi Mesh Network page.

About Qualcomm
Qualcomm is the world’s leading wireless technology innovator and the driving force behind the development, launch, and expansion of 5G. When we connected the phone to the internet, the mobile revolution was born. Today, our foundational technologies enable the mobile ecosystem and are found in every 3G, 4G and 5G smartphone. We bring the benefits of mobile to new industries, including automotive, the internet of things, and computing, and are leading the way to a world where everything and everyone can communicate and interact seamlessly.

Qualcomm Incorporated includes our licensing business, QTL, and the vast majority of our patent portfolio. Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., a subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated, operates, along with its subsidiaries, substantially all of our engineering, research and development functions, and substantially all of our products and services businesses, including our QCT semiconductor business.

One of the world’s largest municipality Wi-Fi deployments

STOCKHOLM – October 19,  2020 – The Istanbul city Wi-Fi service, enabled by a solution from Aptilo Networks, has won the Telecoms World Smart Cities Award. The network has around 8,000 access points. Every year, 16 million citizens and 10 million visitors get access to a high-capacity Wi-Fi service.

The administration of Istanbul needed a Wi-Fi service that could scale and provide various stakeholders with advanced functionality. The Aptilo Service Management Platform™ with its Venue Wi-Fi Manager™ multitenancy functionality fulfilled all the requirements.

“With a Wi-Fi network that looks and behaves like a large operator network, we needed a carrier-class solution,” said Erol Özgüner, CIO Istanbul City. “With Aptilo’s advanced functionality for cellular- and Wi-Fi-based IoT connectivity, we already have today the foundation to enter the Internet-of-everything era.”

Users of the Istanbul Wi-Fi service get high bandwidth and short response times wherever they are. There are up to five different quota buckets that control the data consumption and that can be used at different types of locations. The solution from Aptilo keeps track of where the users access the Wi-Fi service and applies the right bucket depending on the location.

The multitenancy functionality in Aptilo’s platform makes it possible for Istanbul city to tailor the look and feel for the different venues. Through banner areas at the login portal, users can get the latest information for that location and view advertisements.

Furthermore, quality-of-service control and quota profiles can be adjusted by location and user group, and for special dates such as national holidays.

“This advanced large-scale Wi-Fi service and the grand vision for the future make Istanbul city a worthy winner of the award,” said Paul Mikkelsen, CEO, Aptilo Networks. “We are very proud to have been part of the project and to have contributed to its success.”

About Aptilo Networks

Aptilo Networks, an Enea company, is a leading provider of carrier-class systems to manage data services with advanced functions for authentication, policy control and charging. Aptilo Service Management Platform™ (SMP) has become synonymous with Wi-Fi service management and Wi-Fi offload in large-scale deployments with 100+ operators in more than 75 countries, and is a critical component of Wi-Fi calling and IoT. For more information, visit www.aptilo.com.

STOCKHOLM – October 5,  2020 – Telkom Indonesia, owner of one of the world’s largest Wi-Fi networks, Indonesia Wi-Fi, celebrates six years in partnership with Aptilo Networks. Telkom has now completed an upgrade to the lastest version of the Aptilo Service Management Platform™ (SMP) with increased capacity and enhanced geographical redundancy.

Telkom’s Indonesia Wi-Fi network is one of the businest in the world serving more than 70 million users with 400,000+ Wi-Fi access points. To be ready for the future, this upgrade further improves capacity and strengthens geographical redundancy to ensure a consistent service.

Indonesia Wi-Fi is available with high-capacity fiber backhaul nationwide in the world’s largest archipelago country with 237 million people spread across 17,000 islands. Users are consuming 15-25 Petabyte (PB) of data per month. To put things in perspective, 25 PB is equivalent to eight million hours of full HD video.

“Managing Wi-Fi services with 400,000+ access points (including homespot) and 70 million users across 17,000 islands puts extreme demands on the Wi-Fi service management core platform,” said Irwan Indriastanto, Senior Manager Wireless Product, Telkom Indonesia. “Our customers deserve the best high-performance Wi-Fi service available. We are very pleased to expand our relationship with Aptilo to enhance the capabilities of our Wi-Fi service.”

Telkom Indonesia also offers a first class business-to-business (B2B) Wi-Fi service which addresses all customer segments including enterprise, SME, wholesale and retail. Through their WICO (Wi-Fi Corner) product, Telkom Indonesia helps governments build smart cities and provide social services.

“We are proud to have enabled one of the world’s largest public Wi-Fi services for the last six years,” said Paul Mikkelsen, CEO, Aptilo Networks. “We are also impressed at how Telkom Indonesia makes the most out of the innovations from Aptilo and Wi-Fi equipment vendors.”

About Aptilo Networks

Aptilo Networks, an Enea company, is a leading provider of carrier-class systems to manage data services with advanced functions for authentication, policy control and charging. Aptilo Service Management Platform™ (SMP) has become synonymous with Wi-Fi service management and Wi-Fi offload in large-scale deployments with 100+ operators in more than 75 countries, and is a critical component of Wi-Fi calling and IoT.

# # #

As more smart home products enter the market each year and consumers continue adopting the Internet of Things into their homes, it’s inevitable that the world would have run out of 4.3 billion unique IPv4 addresses. To combat this, innovators have developed the IPv6 protocol introducing over 340 undecillion (that’s 340,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000) addresses!

What makes IPv4 and IPv6  so different? Let’s begin with understanding what IP (or Internet Protocol) is.

Internet Protocol

“Protocol” refers to using a set of rules and guidelines for communicating over the internet. It is the language of the internet that forces users to follow the standard rules for communication. An IP address is like your home address, which you use for communicating with the outside world. It is a string of unique numbers that identify your device over the internet, allowing your device to communicate with others using their unique IP addresses.

IPv4 and IPv6 addresses are both binary numbers that are expressed either in decimal or hexadecimal forms, respectively, and have two parts: the network the host parts. The network portion in the address is the unique identification assigned to the network, and the host part is the unique identification of each device connected to the network. So, for each device’s address connected to the network, the network portion in the address will be the same, however, the host part will differ.

IPv4

IPv4 uses 32-bit addressing, which is 2³² addresses, allowing for 4,294,967,296 unique IP addresses worldwide. The IP address consists of four sets separated by dots, with each set ranging between 0 to 255.

At the time IPv4 was engineered in the 1980s, 4 billion IP addresses seemed like more than enough considering this protocol was initially used as an experiment for the US Department of Defense. IPv4 has since become the default protocol for the internet and with a world population of greater than 7.5 billion the IPv4 address space is not sufficient.

Knowing this, how are we still managing to provide unique IP addresses? You guessed it – by reusing IP addresses! Network address translation (NAT) helps reduce the use of public IP addresses by translating private IP addresses to public IP addresses. Inside a local network usually managed by a router, there may be multiple private IP addresses that are translated into public IP addresses when they want to communicate over the internet. Mercku’s M2 Queen router is enabled to perform translations and is capable of supporting 60 devices at once without compromising on communication speeds.

Figure 1: Smart Homes Worldwide

Source: Statista, May 2020, based on Statista Digital Market Outlook – Market Report

Figure 2: Forecast number of mobile devices worldwide from 2019 to 2023

Source: Statista, February 2020, based on Mobile Statistics Report, 2019-2023

By observing Figures 1 and 2, it is evident that the number of devices worldwide has been increasing and is forecasted to further increase for which Ipv4 address space is certainly not enough.

Since IPv4 address space has become insufficient, computer engineers around the world (Internet Engineering Task Force) decided to address this issue by introducing IPv6 with the intent to replace IPv4.

IPv6 uses 128-bit addressing, which overcomes the insufficiency of IP addresses worldwide. The number of unique IP addresses that can be generated with IPv6 is 2¹²⁸ which is 340,282,366,920,938,463,463,374,607,431,768,211,456 IP addresses. IPv6 address has eight sets that are separated by a colon and have hexadecimal digits.

The Future of IP Addressing

IPv4 and IPv6 are not compatible and can’t directly communicate with each other, although there are transition mechanisms like NAT64 that allow for communication.

Many routers and servers that are currently in use are not IPv6 compatible quite yet and can only communicate with IPv4 addresses. However, as the world transitions more towards IPv6, internet service providers will need to replace their customer’s existing routers with newer ones that are IPv6-compatible.

There is no confirmed date when a complete transition will happen and it may take place over years, with an increasing number of applications and content accessible by IPv6. It is better to transition beforehand to IPv6 to avoid inconveniences in the future, and consumers with Mercku’s WiFi router won’t require any replacement.

Some of the additional features that IPv6 has includes:

• Stateless Auto-Configuration: Stateless Configuration allows devices on IPv6 network to configure and connect themselves to the internet without the need of a DHCP server
• Simultaneously connections to multiple networks: The configuration and interoperability capabilities of IPv6 allow the assignment of multiple IP addresses to one device.
• Internet Protocol Security: IPSec provides a network security layer. It is a mandatory feature in IPv6 while IPv4 also has this feature but is not compulsory in it; Network providers and end-users may not always use this feature.

To check if your device is IPv6-ready, you can visit http://test-ipv6.com/ for free online testing.

By Jason Claybrook July 13, 2020 Case Studies

As the dawn of the smart city rapidly approaches, the need for reliable and cost-effective connectivity solutions within urban settings has steadily grown. Add to this scenario a marked increase in internet usage that now sees more people and devices using greater amounts of data than ever before, and a unique problem presents itself: how can a smart city provide its residents with widespread Wi-Fi coverage while keeping labor and infrastructure costs under control?
In December of 2019, INTECH GM Nando Ateho found himself considering this very question. He’d been tasked with deploying a wireless network for a five-day outdoor event held on-site at an up-and-coming smart city development in Utah known as Desert Color. The wireless solution required for this event needed to offer three things: seamless connectivity across a large geographic area, ease-of-configuration for a limited labor force, and overall cost-effectiveness.

The solution he found was Apogee by Aura Wireless.

Background

With construction on its first phase of homes having commenced at the beginning of 2019, Desert Color is well into its first year of development. Touting itself as a “master-planned community built around connectivity, community, and sustainability,” Desert Color is already proving to be one of Utah’s premier smart communities.

With an expected development timeline of 20-or-so years, sights are set high for this small city. Among its future plans are resorts, residential areas, shopping centers, recreational zones, parks, and other community centers like office buildings, schools, and churches. Its growth goals are largely geared toward attracting forward-thinking, well-to-do professionals who value an active lifestyle, connecting with the outdoors, and living a futuristic quality-of-life supported by all the amenities IoT-based living can offer.

But in order to make this vision a reality, developers had to first begin attracting prospects and selling homes. Slated for early 2020, the community’s first-ever Parade of Homes event was prepared to do just that.

The Problem

In order to showcase the Desert Color community to prospective home buyers, community planners knew it had to live up to some high expectations. The Parade of Homes event was planned with two simultaneous goals in mind: highlighting its allure as a city rich in beauty, style, and community; and showcasing its technical capabilities as a smart city. As such, Brook Cole of Clyde Development knew he needed to find a wireless network solution that would help Desert Color live up to its budding reputation.

Meant to span five days and cover a geographic area of over 15 acres, the event required a well-planned and strategic wireless infrastructure. Visitors would be moving across the area on foot and in vehicles; they’d need to be able to move outdoors and into tents and even inside buildings with ease. While the natural scenery and unique architecture of the city’s homes are a major selling point, the word “connectivity” is plainly stated within the community’s mission statement. Weak coverage and poor performance were simply not an option.

However, deploying a robust, large-scale Wi-Fi network is difficult and expensive. Covering a 15-acre swath of land typically requires dozens of access points, exponentially increasing hardware costs. Additionally, these large networks require a great deal of hands-on configuration by a team of technicians, which drastically increases labor costs. The usual conclusion is that networks such as these are just not worth it.

But what if there were a solution that could change all that?

The Solution

Once his network solutions options were assessed, Ateho eventually turned to Apogee’s software-defined antennae platform as the cornerstone of his deployment. After taking into consideration Desert Color’s specific needs and requirements, Aura’s team assisted with RF planning by bestowing thoughtful and timely planning and cooperation which would help lay the framework for the upcoming event.

During installation and throughout the Parade of Homes, only two Apogee-equipped access points were required to provide thorough coverage to the 15-acre area. What’s more, Apogee Manager Cloud gave INTECH CTO Leonard Jenkins the ability to not only remotely configure the network, but also be able to remotely manage the network. This meant that instead of dispatching multiple technicians to adjust multiple access points as needed over the course of several days, one technician was able to manage only two Apogee access points from one remote location.

Furthermore, Apogee was able to provide reliable infrastructure support for IoT devices within the area. Because IoT devices are low-powered and, oftentimes, battery-powered, properly connecting them to networks can be challenging. A robust signal – particularly on the return link from the IoT device to the AP – reduces power drain and extends the life of the device, in addition to improving connectivity. Apogee’s asymmetrical gain was ideally suited to overcome these challenges.

From installation and throughout deployment, Jenkins became more and more convinced that Apogee was a wireless solution unlike any other, applauding the system’s ease-of-use, as well as the range and strength of its signal. While providing seamless large-area Wi-Fi coverage across a large span of area can be an insurmountable challenge, Apogee and Apogee Manager Cloud helped provide a reliable network solution for the hundreds of attendees for the Parade of Homes event.

In addition to the remote configuration and optimization that Apogee provides, Jenkins was also impressed with the antenna’s ability to propagate the 5GHz band over very large areas. Typically, the 5GHz band was only utilized for point-to-point; with Apogee, Jenkins documented that 5GHz could be used alongside the 2.4GHz band for point-to-multipoint, thus doubling the number of usable channels and truly delivering two non-interfering networks side-by-side.

But ultimately, it was its long-term cost-effectiveness that brought its benefits full-circle. Ateho’s verdict?  That a better-quality solution with a more efficient signal and easier-to-manage antenna software equals a greater, long-term value.

He plans to deploy Apogee in future projects.

By Taj Manku, CEO | June 14, 2020

Discovering new applications for existing technologies is the definition of innovation. It’s an exciting thing to be a part of because it opens the door to new ways of improving our quality of life, but we recognize it also comes with responsibility.

Here at Cognitive Systems, we’ve developed a solution called WiFi Motion that uses existing WiFi signals in the home to enable motion detection. Also referred to as WiFi Sensing, this technology already has numerous applications for service providers within the security, health care, enterprise and smart home markets. WiFi Motion’s capabilities are sure to expand as we work with partners and others in the space to uncover even more uses, but not without some necessary guardrails in place.

The need for a more complete set of standards

Current possibilities aside, WiFi Sensing technology won’t reach its full potential unless stakeholders work together to implement standards around its development. While there are currently adequate standards in place that cover the core functions of WiFi Motion, a more robust set is required to achieve new and more complex use cases. These standards will help others work with existing applications and also create new ones, while ensuring consistency across various platforms.

In the early stages of working on WiFi Motion, we found ourselves explaining WiFi Sensing to each new chip vendor we worked with. This simply wasn’t efficient or sustainable. Going forward, we need a universally recognized industry definition, and a defined set of API to be used as a guideline for anyone creating chips.

Finding the right partners to move WiFi Sensing forward

As one of the first companies to develop a commercially-viable solution using WiFi Sensing, we became aware of our responsibility to help shape the development of the wider technology. To make this happen, we knew we had to align ourselves with others working in the space. There is a lot of room for development, and even competition, in this space. It’s important that we all work together to realize the full potential of WiFi Sensing technology.

We identified the Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA) as an ideal partner to help raise awareness about WiFi Sensing, while also ensuring it is being explained accurately and consistently throughout the industry. The WBA’s mission is to enable collaboration among service providers, technology companies and organizations who want to drive seamless, interoperable service experiences via WiFi. This made them a natural fit.

Our next step was to establish a working group within the WBA. The NextGen Work Group is the first of its kind and works toward introducing and fostering the adoption of new WiFi applications. Part of the group’s work so far has included publishing the Wi-Fi Sensing Whitepaper, which outlines use cases and requirements for the technology to be utilized in home and enterprise environments. A goal of the whitepaper is to help other companies identify business opportunities or simply grow their revenue by enhancing their current offerings with WiFi Sensing. It also identifies gaps that need to be addressed to fully realize the potential of the technology in the broader industry.

Looking forward to a bright future

We’re proud to say that we’ve gotten the ball rolling on establishing a robust set of standards that will help WiFi Sensing move forward. Cognitive Systems senior engineer Chris Beg has been an integral player in aligning with the WBA, starting the NextGen Work Group and publishing the whitepaper. Last fall Chris presented to the Wireless Next Generation Standing Committee on the future of WiFi Sensing for service providers. Up next, Chris continues the conversation with key players by presenting at this summer’s Wireless Global Congress virtual event.

Ultimately, we’re looking to engage the software community and start coming together in an open source forum to explore what is possible. By strengthening the WiFi industry as a whole, we can all achieve great things together.

What’s New: Today Intel recognized the outstanding achievements of 30 partners with the distinction of Partner of the Year at its Intel Partner Connect 2020 virtual conference. The Partner of the Year awards honor Intel partners demonstrating excellence in technology innovation, go-to-market strategizing, sales growth and marketing.

“We appreciate each of our partners for their continued collaboration to bring new technologies to life for our customers. The shared results from 2019 demonstrate our strong partnerships and collective mission to bring innovative solutions to businesses and organizations across the world.”
– Greg Ernst, Intel vice president in the Sales and Marketing Group and general manager of U.S. Sales

Why It’s Important: The title of Partner of the Year is awarded to companies achieving the highest standards of design, development, integration and technology deployment to accelerate innovation, growth and go-to-market strategies. They represent great examples of what’s possible when we, as an ecosystem, work together.

Partner Program Winners:

Global Innovation

• Accenture – Global Innovation Partner – Globally deploying innovative solutions across artificial intelligence (AI), analytics, blockchain and device-as-a-service leveraging Intel technologies: Intel® OpenVINO™, Intel® Arria® 10 FPGA, Intel® Movidius™ Myriad™ X VPU, Intel® Connected Logistics platform and the Intel vPro® platform.

LOEM

• AIS – Growth – Continuously grew integration of Intel® NUC product to enhance video collaboration solutions in enterprise and education.
• Colfax International – Go-to-Market – For successfully deploying Intel® Optane™ persistent memory DIMMS at launch and strategizing a cohesive pricing model.
• Crystal Group – Growth – Delivered innovative, ruggedized systems tailored to specific customer needs for oil and gas, and power substation/micro grid market-ready solutions for Intel’s common substation platform.
• Eluktronics – Innovation – Leading channel whitebook GTM strategy with SPG and executing TTM launch of Queen’s County, selling 1.2ku in first quarter.
• IBuyPower – Go-to-Market – Set its sights on TAM expansion with Intel technology through a bold, creative and unique partnership with Toyota Racing Development. With this program, it unveiled a state-of-the-art gaming and training zone at Toyota Performance Center, remastered its Pro Series of workstation PCs for professionals, launched a series of TRD-approved systems for gamers, and broadcasted a video series designed to award-winning college students with gaming room makeovers, all with Intel branding and powered by Intel-based PCs.
• Penguin Computing – Innovation – An innovative Linux solution for high-performance computing on-premise and in the cloud with Penguin Computing professional and managed services.
• Razer – Growth – Razer saw exceptional growth in 2019, in part by bringing the latest Intel technologies to market, including Intel® Core™ i7 processors, Intel® Iris® Plus graphics, Thunderbolt™ 3 and Wi-Fi 6, to deliver high-performance thin-and-light gaming laptops.
• Simply NUC – Go-to-Market – Dedicated to expanding the use cases of mini PCs into new growth segments such as digital signage, academic collaboration and AI. Simply NUC is your one-stop shop for systems, solutions and accessories.
• Vast Data – Innovation – For close collaboration and partnership in creating Intel Optane technology-based storage solutions for new applications, such as analytics and AI, machine learning and deep learning. Uniquely integrated key Intel technologies to simplify the data center stack, eliminate storage complexity and tiers, and enable all-flash performance with archive economics.

National

• CDW – Growth – Expanding Intel client, data center, storage and networking infrastructure solutions across over 150 countries.
• Connection – Go-to-Market – For their dedication to selling devices consistently across SMB, public sector and enterprise segments.
• Insight – Innovation – For simplifying complex solutions in emerging technologies like the internet of Things (IoT) and machine learning – including the Connected Platform for Detection and Prevention of the spread of viruses – to accelerate our clients’ time to value, drive efficiency in their workplaces and create positive customer experiences through partnerships and solution aggregation at scale.
• Logicalis – Go-to-Market – Intel pre-validated, and pre-integrated IoT solutions across markets, such as asset management in healthcare, machine vision in industrial, and smart city applications.
• Pivot – Go-to-Market – Edge secure connectivity, computing and collaboration solutions that continue to advance and scale Smart Edge’s software. Pivot signed a three-year preferred partnership agreement with Intel to continue investing in and drive the Intel® Smart Edge/Edge solution (branded Pivot Intelligent Edge) to market and support its future growth. Pivot has integrated Smart Edge to be a foundational component of Pivot’s Intelligent Edge Solution and Services that provide best-in-class secure connectivity across multiple wireless protocols (CBRS, LTE, Wifi, Lora, Zigbee, etc.).
• Presidio – Growth – Deployed Intel-based solutions around HCI, SDS and Hybrid Cloud across its middle market, enterprise and government clients.
• SHI International Corp. – Innovation – Leads the way with its cutting-edge Zero Touch, which streamlines configuration, deployment and management of Intel processor-based Win 10 client devices.
• World Wide Technology – Growth – Designed, built, and deployed transformational solutions for multicloud, AI/analytics, IoT and 5G, supporting our largest enterprise, public sector, and service provider customers.
• Zones – Innovation – For its leadership in solution development and deployment of the Intel Unite®

ISA

• BCM – Highest IOT Growth at Associate/Affiliate Level – Provided medical equipment OEMs with a viable IoT data collection and aggregation device using Intel Core technology. Understands multiple vertical markets and embedded life cycle management, and reduces time to market with a quality product.
• Crestron – Most Engaged Co-Marketing – The Creston Collaboration solution is an Intel® IoT Market Ready Solution built on Intel technologies (Intel Core i7, Movidius and Intel Arria FPGA). Creston engaged in a multifaceted Intel IoT Solutions Alliance co-marketing campaign (event, collateral, demos, digital), insight.tech content marketing platform, and the Intel® Solutions Marketplace to develop leads, accelerate its business and drive revenue and deployments.
• Dell OEM – Largest IoT Co-sell Partner +Biggest IOT Growth Partner – Dell Technologies Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) Embedded & Edge Solutions delivers customized infrastructure, services and a secure supply chain designed for your vision and business goals – all from one trusted, sustainable and secure vendor. Dell OEM offers solutions for IoT, communications, medical, retail and more than 40 additional verticals.
• Noodle.ai – Most impactful MRS – Noodle.ai is a mature startup software company with deep heritage and expertise of AI/ML analytics for factory/industrial environments. With the support from Intel and Dell, Noodle.ai will continue to pioneer the Smart Factories initiative, as part of the Industry 4.0 rollout.

Distributor

• Synnex Corporation – Data Center Group Distributor of the Year – Grew its overall data center business with a companywide focus on growing this segment, which resulted in overall data center growth, and Intel adjacencies and Intel® Data Center Blocks.
• Ingram Micro – Client Computing Group Distributor of the Year – Grew its client computing business through a sales and marketing strategy focused on growth areas, like solutions-based on Intel NUC products.
• Arrow – Internet of Things Group Distributor of the Year – Drove an overall IoT silicon, systems, solution strategy that led to expanding its overall business and evolving its IoT go-to-market strategy.
• ASI – Non-Volatile Memory Solutions Group Distributor of the Year – Exceptional growth year-over-year through a very focused effort across the entire company.
• Tech Data – Branded Systems Distributor of the Year – Strong growth results on both end-point products and data center through a variety of companywide initiatives.
• Tech Data – Partner Enablement Distributor of the Year – Delivered innovative solutions to help its Intel partners grow their Intel business through Tech Data’s Propel ITP program.
• Computech International – Channel Innovation Award – Brought Intel nonvolatile memory solutions to new markets, expanding Intel’s channel presence and customer base.

More Context: Intel’s Partner Program Page | Intel Announces 2020 Americas Partner of the Year Awards

The Small Print: Intel technologies’ features and benefits depend on system configuration and may require enabled hardware, software or service activation. Performance varies depending on system configuration. No product or component can be absolutely secure. Check with your system manufacturer or retailer or learn more at intel.com.

Cost reduction scenarios described are intended as examples of how a given Intel-based product, in the specified circumstances and configurations, may affect future costs and provide cost savings. Circumstances will vary. Intel does not guarantee any costs or cost reduction.

Software and workloads used in performance tests may have been optimized for performance only on Intel microprocessors.

Performance tests, such as SYSmark and MobileMark, are measured using specific computer systems, components, software, operations and functions. Any change to any of those factors may cause the results to vary. You should consult other information and performance tests to assist you in fully evaluating your contemplated purchases, including the performance of that product when combined with other products. For more complete information visit www.intel.com/benchmarks.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla., May 19, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — GoZone WiFi, a leading U.S.-based WiFi analytics and marketing SaaS company, has unveiled a new product called Touchless Menu™ to help restaurants adapt to safety and health concerns around the COVID-19 pandemic.

Touchless Menu creates a contactless ordering experience during dine-in service. Guests access the restaurant’s food and beverage menu by connecting to a special WiFi network, which pushes the digital menu to the guest’s smartphone, tablet, laptop or other WiFi-enabled device.

See How Touchless Menu Works

“Our team developed Touchless Menu after hearing from restaurant owners and operators across the country who are struggling to navigate a safe reopening,” said Todd Myers, GoZone WiFi CEO. “The Touchless Menu gives restaurants an opportunity to reassure patrons that they’re taking actions to reduce the spread of COVID-19.”

The Touchless Menu is safer than sanitizing reusable menus, which require cleaning by staff members between uses. It also provides significant cost savings over printed single-use menus, while being environmentally conscious.

“Guests need to feel safe and comfortable in coming back to our restaurants,” said Mark Ferguson, who is using Touchless Menu at his restaurant, Ferg’s Sports Bar in St. Petersburg, Florida. “Many of my guests feel more comfortable using their personal devices rather than touching a physical menu. Touchless Menu encourages a comfortable experience.”

While other digital menu solutions are available, they are expensive to install and maintain, or they’re clunky offerings that required guests to follow complicated instructions. Touchless Menu, by comparison, is affordable and it’s the easiest digital menu to use.

Restaurant operators quickly upload their current menu to a drag-and-drop menu editor with pre-built menu templates. The Touchless Menu works by simply plugging in a pre-configured router box to a restaurant’s existing Internet router to set up guest WiFi access. Once set up, guests can instantly view the menu on their personal WiFi-enabled devices inside the restaurant.

The Touchless Menu includes a drag-and-drop menu editor, pre-built menu templates and a router box. GoZone is offering one-time complimentary design services to help restaurants quickly return to operation.

Learn more about GoZone WiFi’s Touchless Menu here. See release on PRNewswire here.

AdaptivMIMO technology provides flexible configurations for fast 6 GHz adoption

PHOENIX, Ariz. – Apr. 21, 2020 – ON Semiconductor (Nasdaq: ON), driving energy efficient innovations, announced sampling of its new QCS-AX2 chipset family that supports the 6GHz spectrum band based on the enhanced Wi-Fi 6E standard. Designed with a high performance, flexible architecture to maximize usage of the 6GHz band, the new product family is optimized for high-throughput Wi-Fi applications, such as access points, gateways, and mesh networking solutions for dense environments and underserved areas.

The QCS-AX2 series is built on an integrated baseband and RF (radio frequency) architecture that supports key Wi-Fi 6E features, such as orthogonal frequency-division multiple access (OFDMA), advanced MU-MIMO (Multi-User, Multi-Input, Multi-Output), and 160MHz channel support for faster speeds, and SmartScan channel selection for maximum band utilization. The new product portfolio will include the following:

• QCS-AX2-A12: tri-band (6GHz/5GHz/2.4GHz) with AdaptivMIMO technology supports flexible 8×8 or 4×4 configurations
• QCS-AX2-T12: tri-band concurrent 4×4 operation for high performance, cost-effective router solutions
• QCS-AX2-T8: tri-band concurrent 8-stream configurations for mesh nodes and mainstream access points

As the Federal Communications Commission anticipates the opening of the 6GHz band in the United States later this year, up to 1,200 MHz of newly available spectrum will be designated for Wi-Fi and other unlicensed use. With almost 5 times of spectrum more than the current 2.4 GHz and 5GHz bands combined, the 6GHz band is accelerating the development of next generation Wi-Fi 6 applications. While the 6GHz client ecosystem takes time to build out, Wi-Fi infrastructure devices, such as gateways, routers, and access points will need to continue to support existing dual band (2.4GHz/5GHz) clients; infrastructure applications such as 6GHz backhaul between gateways and mesh nodes will lead deployments.

ON Semiconductor’s Wi-Fi 6E solutions are designed to accommodate the transition to the 6GHz band with AdaptivMIMO technology while addressing mainstream 6GHz applications. A Wi-Fi 6E infrastructure device with AdaptivMIMO allows the network to operate in the 5GHz or 6GHz band depending on the clients present in a subscriber’s home network to maximize performance, coverage, and utilization. The QCS-AX2 series provides the Wi-Fi performance and connectivity in congested environments to multiple devices that applications demand.

“We are excited about the tremendous opportunities that Wi-Fi 6E opens for the industry. We are in the forefront of building Wi-Fi 6E platforms that enable even better speed, efficiency and performance for the Home, Enterprise, Automotive and IoT segments,” said Irvind Ghai, Vice President of Marketing, Quantenna Connectivity Solutions at ON Semiconductor. “ON Semiconductor is dedicated to innovation in Wi-Fi technology, and will continue to leverage its connectivity excellence to provide end-to-end solutions that accelerate key Wi-Fi 6E ecosystems.”

“Our new generation of QCS-AX2 with AdaptivMIMO allows OEMs fast time-to-market with optimized performance across the 3 bands. As Wi-Fi 6E infrastructure proliferates, it will seed the 6GHz ecosystems. Client devices will also benefit from improved efficiency, lower latency and jitter, and less interference, providing better user experience across applications and environments,” said Simon Duxbury, General Manager & Vice President, Quantenna Connectivity Solutions, ON Semiconductor.

ON Semiconductor is now sampling the QCS-AX2 solutions to customers.

About ON Semiconductor
ON Semiconductor (Nasdaq: ON) is driving energy efficient innovations, empowering customers to reduce global energy use. The company is a leading supplier of semiconductor-based solutions, offering a comprehensive portfolio of energy efficient power management, analog, sensors, logic, timing, connectivity, discrete, SoC and custom devices. The company’s products help engineers solve their unique design challenges in automotive, communications, computing, consumer, industrial, medical, aerospace and defense applications. ON Semiconductor operates a responsive, reliable, world-class supply chain and quality program, a robust compliance and ethics program, and a network of manufacturing facilities, sales offices and design centers in key markets throughout North America, Europe and the Asia Pacific regions. For more information, visit https://www.onsemi.com.