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Recently Wi-Fi NOW Europe was held in Berlin.
Latest in Wi-Fi Innovation
The goal of the event was to bring industry players together for three days of networking, conferences, exposure for their business, a real bonanza of Wi-Fi knowledge gathered at one place.
The Spirent team was also there showcasing our recently launched 802.11ax WLAN testing capability enabling the Wi-Fi industry to advance the development and deployment of 802.11ax (Wi-Fi 6) technology and providing the Wi-Fi ecosystem with key testing features to optimize the performance and functionality of their Wi-Fi 6 routers.
Key Take-Aways from Wi-Fi NOW Europe
Some of the highlights from the event include
Relevant conference themes: Wi-Fi innovation, challenges and opportunities of bringing AX to market, the significance of testing, new Wi-Fi business models, how to boost performance and ensure security, and a new breed of Wi-Fi Service Providers were discussed among other things at the world’s only 100% Wi-Fi event.
Next-generation connectivity: Kevin Robin’s (Wi-Fi Alliance) keynote speech emphasized that constant innovation has made Wi-Fi essential to next generation connectivity and discussed the rationale behind the new consumer friendly Wi-Fi naming convention.
Wi-Fi global economic value: estimated at $ 1.96 trillion in 2018, expected to grow to $ 3.47 trillion by 2023, shared Dr. Raul Katz (Telecom Advisory Services) in a fascinating presentation on his research study commissioned by the Wi-Fi Alliance.
I had a chance to participate in the Q&A panel discussion centered around the challenges of bringing AX products to market, moderated by Claus Hetting (Wi-Fi NOW). This animated exchange brought attention to numerous new use cases for Wi-Fi 6 (ax) and what this means for the Enterprise. The discussion also covered key features of this new technology and brought to light the complexity of testing with so many unique Wi-Fi 6 test cases:
Not all Access Points are the same: chipset and equipment manufacturers are taking various approaches in terms of product attributes based on their primary target markets (e.g. 4x4 vs. 8x8 MU-MIMO, DL/UL vs DL only OFDMA, etc.)
Several new unique use cases were highlighted, such as testing the expected through-put for a Wi-Fi 6 network with mixed clients (802.11ax/ac/n, etc.)
The need for automated, repeatable and scalable Wi-Fi test and measurement solutions has become more important than ever.
With so much Wi-Fi knowledge gathered in one place, the event provided networking opportunities with a very diverse group of people in the industry.
I am excited about what the future holds for the Wi-Fi industry, and passionate about what companies such as Spirent are doing to accelerate the development and deployment of ground-breaking Wi-Fi technologies such as Wi-Fi 6.
