Intel has partnered with Broadcom to showcase the capabilities of Wi-Fi 7 in the world’s first cross-vendor demo.
“As longtime WBA board members, Broadcom and Intel have been instrumental in pioneering Wi-Fi 6 and 6E. Now they’re leading the way again with Wi-Fi 7, which leverages the rapidly growing availability of 6 GHz spectrum in multiple countries across APAC, EMEA, Latin America and the US,” said Tiago Rodrigues, CEO of the Wireless Broadband Alliance.
“Their successful trial is a milestone toward bringing Wi-Fi 7’s double-digit gigabit speeds, ultra-low latency, carrier-grade resilience and other next-generation capabilities to consumers and businesses worldwide. Enterprise and residential networks will also greatly benefit from the advanced capabilities of Wi-Fi 7.”
For the demonstration, an Intel-base laptop with a Wi-Fi 7 solution was connected to a Broadcom Wi-Fi 7 access point. Over-the-air speeds in excess of five gigabits per second were achieved.
“We are proud to highlight how next-generation Wi-Fi 7 can make new mobile PC experiences possible. Industry collaboration is essential to ensure we deliver on the promises of this new wireless technology,” said Carlos Cordeiro, Intel Fellow and Wireless CTO, Client Computing Group, Intel.
“We would like to thank our colleagues at Broadcom for their great technical cooperation, which helped enable this unprecedented, first-of-its-kind demonstration of ultra-high speed and ultra-low latency Wi-Fi 7.”
Wi-Fi 7 features wider 320 MHz channels in unlicensed 6GHz spectrum, higher order 4K QAM data modulation, simultaneous connections across multiple bands with multi-link operation, and improved channel utilisation efficiency with multi-resource unit puncturing.
“Today’s milestone sends a clear message: the ecosystem is ready and Wi-Fi 7 is here to deliver extraordinary capacity and blazing fast speeds to extend gigabit broadband,” commented Vijay Nagarajan, VP of the Wireless Connectivity Division at Broadcom.
“The reliable, low-latency communication provided by Wi-Fi 7 is a key element of Broadcom’s vision for connecting everything as the Internet evolves to its next iteration replete with immersive experiences.”
The latest Wi-Fi standard’s deterministic operation enables new product classes such as AR/VR, ultra-high-definition 16K media streaming, and super-responsive and reliable gaming.
Users will also benefit from Wi-Fi 7’s ability to support an even greater number of devices, which is especially beneficial in office settings and to support the growing number of smart home devices.
“Wi-Fi 7 is the most powerful and capable Wi-Fi protocol yet and will allow Wi-Fi to continue to serve the most demanding applications in the consumer and vertical markets with the highest level of determinism yet,” explained Phil Solis, Research Director, Connectivity at IDC.
“Interoperability testing between Intel and Broadcom will enable the development of products that can be used in the test beds for official Wi-Fi Alliance certification testing.”
Wi-Fi 7 is expected to be certified by the Wi-Fi Alliance in the latter half of 2023. However, Cordeiro expects Wi-Fi 7 won’t reach enterprise-level equipment before 2024.
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