Qualcomm Technologies has led the industry on 802.11ac Wave 2 with MU-MIMO with over 100 commercial devices available to date and we expect adoption to continue to ramp as a result of news today from Wi-Fi Alliance. Earlier today, Wi-Fi Alliance announced the launch of an expanded Wi-Fi CERTIFIED ac program that now includes Wave 2 features, such as MU-MIMO, to bring higher performance, speed and capacity to Wi-Fi networks. The initial Wi-Fi CERTIFIED ac program launched in 2013 and was an enormous success, taking the performance benefits of 5GHz to more users, equipping them to take on more bandwidth-intensive applications. Wave 2 features are taking this even further with MU-MIMO enabling multitasking capabilities to deliver faster speeds to more devices. Additional Wave 2 features adding to evolutionary speed improvements include 160MHz channels, four spatial streams and extended 5GHz channel support.
Qualcomm Technologies is a firm believer in the importance of Wi-Fi Alliance to the industry as evidenced by our active support and leadership positions in many work items across the Alliance. As a testament to this, Qualcomm Technologies was presented with the, “Outstanding Leadership & Contribution Award” from Wi-Fi Alliance four of the last five years (2015, 2014, 2012, and 2011). The award recognizes member companies that have made extraordinary contributions to the Wi-Fi industry through leadership in Wi-Fi Alliance initiatives.
Today’s announcement highlights Qualcomm Technologies as among the first to achieve certification for these new features and inclusion in the interoperability test bed. Test beds are an important part of what gives Wi-Fi CERTIFIED its meaning – they are essentially a pool of devices that have been rigorously tested with other devices during Wi-Fi Alliance testing events, and selected to be the devices by which others are tested in order to validate quality and interoperability. We are very proud of the efforts of the Qualcomm Technologies engineering teams and others involved to help bring these capabilities under the umbrella of Wi-Fi and will continue to lead in the research and development of future Wi-Fi technologies.
Wi-Fi Alliance readiness to launch a program such as this is a strong barometer the technology is ready to bourgeon. Expect to see Qualcomm Technologies and our enabled customers at the forefront.
