Austin, TX and Washington D.C. – April 12, 2019 – Wi-Fi Alliance® applauds Federal Communications Commission (FCC) efforts to expand 5G services through establishment of the Rural Opportunity Fund. Wi-Fi® is essential to extending carrier 5G networks' coverage and enabling ubiquitous broadband and low-latency connections. This will aid in delivering much needed broadband connectivity to rural areas, powering e-commerce, smart farming, hospitals, education institutions, and even emergency communications.

About Wi-Fi Alliance®
www.wi-fi.org
Wi-Fi Alliance® is the worldwide network of companies that brings you Wi-Fi®. Members of our collaboration forum come together from across the Wi-Fi ecosystem with the shared vision to connect everyone and everything, everywhere, while providing the best possible user experience. Since 2000, Wi-Fi Alliance has completed more than 45,000 Wi-Fi certifications. The Wi-Fi CERTIFIED™ seal of approval designates products with proven interoperability, backward compatibility, and the highest industry-standard security protections in place. Today, Wi-Fi carries more than half of the internet’s traffic in an ever-expanding variety of applications. Wi-Fi Alliance continues to drive the adoption and evolution of Wi-Fi, which billions of people rely on every day.

Media contacts: 
Andrea Torres
Highwire PR for Wi-Fi Alliance
wi-fi@highwirepr.com
+1-415-963-4174 ext. 13

Austin, TX – April 10, 2019 – Wi-Fi Alliance® provides trusted security to billions of Wi-Fi® devices and continues to support Wi-Fi users, as we have done for twenty years.

Recently published research identified vulnerabilities in a limited number of early implementations of WPA3™-Personal, where those devices allow collection of side channel information on a device running an attacker’s software, do not properly implement certain cryptographic operations, or use unsuitable cryptographic elements. WPA3-Personal is in the early stages of deployment, and the small number of device manufacturers that are affected have already started deploying patches to resolve the issues. These issues can all be mitigated through software updates without any impact on devices’ ability to work well together. There is no evidence that these vulnerabilities have been exploited.

Security is and will always be a dynamic endeavor, and Wi-Fi Alliance regularly updates Wi-Fi CERTIFIED™ requirements to address wireless security and privacy challenges as the threat landscape changes. WPA3-Personal raised the bar with next generation security for private Wi-Fi networks based on a simple password credential. Wi-Fi Alliance has taken immediate steps to ensure users can count on WPA3-Personal to deliver even stronger security protections. Wi-Fi CERTIFIED WPA3-Personal now includes additional testing based on elements of the latest research, and Wi-Fi Alliance is broadly communicating implementation guidance to ensure vendors understand the relevant security considerations. As always, Wi-Fi users should ensure they have installed the latest recommended updates from device manufacturers.

As with any technology, robust security research that pre-emptively identifies potential vulnerabilities is critical to maintaining strong protections. Wi-Fi Alliance thanks Mathy Vanhoef of New York University Abu Dhabi and Eyal Ronen of Tel Aviv University and KU Leuven for discovering and responsibly reporting these issues, allowing industry to proactively prepare updates ahead of widespread industry deployment of WPA3-Personal.

https://www.wi-fi.org/security-update-april-2019

Wi-Fi Alliance® celebrates 20-year milestone, industry momentum continues

Austin, TX – February 21, 2019 – For two decades, Wi-Fi® has been connecting users around the world. Wi-Fi has increased speeds, enhanced capabilities, and expanded to deliver peer-to-peer connectivity and multi-gigabit performance, smart and efficient home networks, and seamless authentication and roaming. Wi-Fi has helped bridge the digital divide in underdeveloped areas, enabled more productive and flexible work environments, and opened entirely new markets because of its ability to deliver flexible, affordable connectivity. Wi-Fi will continue this momentum in 2019 with cumulative device shipments reaching 30 billion – more than 4 billion Wi-Fi devices will ship this year alone, expanding Wi-Fi’s installed base to over 13 billion.

Below is a preview of what is ahead for Wi-Fi in 2019:

• Wi-Fi Alliance® celebrates 20 years of Wi-Fi: Wi-Fi celebrates 20 years in 2019. 2019 will be a year to reflect on the incredible success story that Wi-Fi has become as the industry celebrates #20yearsofwifi throughout the year. Twenty years ago, Wi-Fi was a nascent technology and now achieves gigabit speeds and is responsible for critical business operations around the world. Wi-Fi Alliance member companies will be celebrating Wi-Fi’s impact in 2019, introducing innovative new products, and setting the vision for the next 20 years.
• Next generation Wi-Fi: Wi-Fi Alliance introduced new Wi-Fi terminology which has seen rapid industry adoption, particularly with the latest generation of Wi-Fi – Wi-Fi 6. In 2019, Wi-Fi 6 will begin making its way into more access points and consumer products to increase their speeds and performance – and offer improved capabilities in congested environments including stadiums and even home environments with many devices. Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 6™ will be available later in 2019 and will be an inflection point for wide-scale adoption of Wi-Fi 6, ensuring the latest devices meet industry agreed standards for interoperability and security.  
• Evolving Wi-Fi security: Homes and devices continue to get smarter and more feature-rich, propelled by technologies like Wi-Fi that help mobile devices interact with a range of smart home objects and bring more efficiencies and greater productivity through connected services at the office. While smart devices have become more common, users are no less concerned with securing their personal information. With greater adoption of Wi-Fi CERTIFIED WPA3™, the marketplace will begin seeing an enhanced level of security in home and enterprise networks. Public venues with open Wi-Fi networks will also get a boost with Wi-Fi CERTIFIED Enhanced Open™, providing data encryption that maintains the ease of use of open networks.
• The quest for mid-band unlicensed spectrum: Due in large part to Wi-Fi, unlicensed spectrum has become one of society’s most valuable resources. Last year, Wi-Fi contributed nearly $2 trillion in global economic value, and that number is expected to surpass $3.47 trillion by 2023. Wi-Fi plays an understated role in society but is critical to many businesses and services that users rely on every day. Additional unlicensed spectrum will be important to maintaining a good user experience with Wi-Fi devices. In 2019, Wi-Fi Alliance will continue advocating for additional unlicensed spectrum for Wi-Fi in both the 5 GHz and 6 GHz bands and will further its global efforts to communicate the value of Wi-Fi. Wi-Fi Alliance looks forward to working with policymakers and regulators around the world, in addition to groups like the U.S. congressional Wi-Fi Caucus, to ensure Wi-Fi continues to innovate and provide a good user experience for years to come.
• Advanced Wi-Fi use cases become “reality”: In 2019, Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) technologies will start moving beyond marketing trials to broader adoption where they will begin impacting experiences in offices, sports arenas, and homes. Wi-Fi will deliver more robust AR and VR experiences, leveraging technologies like Wi-Fi 6 for higher performance and Wi-Fi CERTIFIED WiGig™ for multigigabit speeds and low latency. Leveraging its inherent strengths, commitment to security, and efficient operations in unlicensed bands, Wi-Fi will continue to reinforce its ability to serve advanced use cases and to provide better throughput, lower latency, more advanced network management and optimization, and enhanced user access.
• Whole-home, Wi-Fi coverage: As homes become increasingly more connected, Wi-Fi mesh systems have increased in popularity to deliver reliable coverage to every area of a home. A variety of vendors have introduced Wi-Fi mesh solutions, and a wave of mesh products are beginning to incorporate Wi-Fi 6 to meet the surge in home network traffic. Device vendors will leverage Wi-Fi CERTIFIED EasyMesh™ to bring a standards-based approach to Wi-Fi networks that utilize multiple access points, allowing greater flexibility in device choice that comes with interoperable Wi-Fi CERTIFIED™ devices. New home buyers can also purchase homes that integrate professionally designed Wi-Fi networks directly into builder floorplans with Wi-Fi CERTIFIED Home Design™. Enhancements to Wi-Fi Home Design™ coming in 2019 will expand the types of homes which can deliver move-in-ready Wi-Fi optimized to allow for a growing array of future smart home devices and systems.

For more information on 20 years of Wi-Fi, please visit: www.20yearsofwifi.com.

2019 Wi-Fi insights from Wi-Fi Alliance members:

“Historically speaking, most predictions miss the mark as the result of a technology in constant flux with disparate organizations and vendors driving Wi-Fi’s strategic and tactical advancements. However, there are some undeniable truths, and mine is that 2019 will be the most transformative year since Wi-Fi’s inception. The launch and embracement of Wi-Fi 6, WPA3, and the explosion of wireless IoT devices will fundamentally change the way Wi-Fi operates, how it secures, and the devices it must now support, with IoT adding a whole new generation of wireless products. Wi-Fi systems are done getting faster since networks have grown even larger and more mission critical than before. Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) capabilities, insightful analytics, automated onboarding, classification, control, and mitigation are now the key innovations targeted for 2019. You will see Wi-Fi advancements from Wi-Fi Alliance, as well as individual vendors including Aerohive, focused on simplifying and optimizing the operation of Wi-Fi networks. If you have been watching closely, some have already started to appear. Bottom line: Key innovations in 2019 will be solutions that leverage AI to augment, enhance and simplify the life of network administrators.” – Perry Correll, product management director, Aerohive Networks

“2019 will be the year of Wi-Fi 6 - bringing increased speed and capacity to more efficiently support the increasing density of devices in the connected home with lower latency and enhanced battery life. We expect Wi-Fi 6 to be coupled with AirTies’ solutions so operators will be able to upgrade Wi-Fi performance and coverage, proactively fix and monitor Wi-Fi issues, and improve overall customer satisfaction for the super connected homes of tomorrow.” – Metin Taskin, CTO of AirTies

“It’s taken 20 years of innovation and evolution, but consumers and businesses will experience dramatic changes this year as the Wi-Fi 6 standard unlocks new possibilities for how we stay connected. We’ll see retail shelves stocked with advanced Wi-Fi 6 mesh routers that will bring consumers multigigabit speeds to every device in every room of the home. We will see IT and enterprise decision makers upgrade their WLAN infrastructure to Wi-Fi 6 for increased efficiency, more capacity, and improved connectivity at work, in hotels, schools, and stadiums. Wi-Fi 6 access points will provide enhanced QoS to enable high-resolution, latency-sensitive video in ultra-high density user environments. ISPs will update their flagship services with Wi-Fi 6, and we’ll also see the first smartphones and tablets emerge to take advantage of new performance capabilities. Perhaps more importantly, we’ll see lab trials of 6GHz Wi-Fi 6 driving new product introductions for the second half of 2020 bringing non-collision access to new bandwidth levels. This will replace the need for any wires in the home.” – Charles Cheevers, CTO, Customer Premises Solutions at ARRIS

“There’s no doubt about it — 2019 will be the year of Wi-Fi 6. We will see a rapid rollout of the full Wi-Fi 6 ecosystem, including smartphones, routers, and access points. In fact, with the launch of the world’s first Wi-Fi 6 smartphone, the Samsung Galaxy S10, 2019 is off to a great start. Consumers will experience the more immersive social media experience that they crave. It’s an exciting time for Wi-Fi!” – Vijay Nagarajan, Vice President of Marketing, Wireless Communications and Connectivity Division at Broadcom

“At Comcast, we operate the largest Wi-Fi network in the country and in 2019 will continue to be focused on enhancing and evolving our nationwide Wi-Fi network so customers will always be connected and have the best overall Wi-Fi experience for our customers. With Xfinity xFi we are helping our users change the way they Wi-Fi by offering the best speed, coverage, control, and now, security to over 15M families across the US.” – Eric Schaefer, General Manager and Senior Vice President of Comcast’s Xfinity Services

“I believe that in 2019, we will see the next generation of low-power Wi-Fi platforms driving IoT innovation. We have been addressing a growing demand from designers for low-latency, cloud-independent decision-making based on contextual awareness, coupled with requirements for longer battery life. This has been fueled by always-on human-machine interfaces using touch, voice, mobile apps, or environmental prompts.” – Brian Bedrosian, vice president of marketing for the IoT Compute and Wireless Business Unit at Cypress

“Since Aruba’s founding almost two decades ago, we have watched Wi-Fi evolve significantly, from its initial role as a secondary network designed to enable mobility to the mission-critical position it holds today as the primary connectivity method for billions of devices, users, and things. As we celebrate Wi-Fi’s 20th anniversary, we look back at how far this critical technology has come in terms of speed, coverage, capacity, and security, and we look ahead with excitement to the vast array of possibilities it holds for improving user experiences across all manner of industries and geographies. With developments such as Wi-Fi 6, Wi-Fi CERTIFIED WPA3, Wi-Fi CERTIFIED Enhanced Open, and innovative new use cases and progress in important areas such as gaining access to additional unlicensed spectrum, the future of Wi-Fi is bright.” – Chuck Lukaszewski, vice president of wireless strategy and standards for Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company

“Wi-Fi will continue to evolve from a stand-alone technology to becoming an integral part of a whole ecosystem of radio technologies, each fulfilling specific requirements. In particular with regard to IoT, Wi-Fi vendors will provide solutions integrating support for other wireless systems, thus allowing users to benefit from highly integrated platforms catering for even the most diverse wireless needs.” – Jan Buis, Vice President Business Development, LANCOM Systems

“We’d like to congratulate Wi-Fi Alliance on 20 successful years of revolutionizing wireless connectivity and driving standardization across the whole industry. As a founding member and leader in Wi-Fi technologies, Marvell is also celebrating our success in providing state-of-the-art solutions and technologies to our customers and the Wi-Fi community. We are looking forward to another 20 years of continued collaboration with Wi-Fi Alliance in bringing secure and higher performing technologies, such as Wi-Fi 6, to market.” – Mark Montierth, Vice President and General Manager, Wireless Connectivity Business Unit at Marvell Semiconductor

"NETGEAR, a pioneer of Wi-Fi technology, has been at the forefront of each generational transition of Wi-Fi and expects 2019 to big a big year for the introduction of Wi-Fi 6 products. We are excited to help drive adoption this year and enable the increased capacity and bandwidth of Wi-Fi 6 networks." – David Henry, senior vice president of Connected Home Products for NETGEAR

“The past two decades of Wi-Fi have brought about many transformations and the best is yet to come. 2019 marks the beginning of a new era of wireless connectivity as Wi-Fi 6 takes performance, capacity and efficiency at range to new levels and 60 GHz Wi-Fi gains momentum, harnessing unlicensed mmWave spectrum to deliver unprecedented double digit gigabit speeds and imperceptible latencies. As a global leader in the shipment of Wi-Fi enabled products, we look forward to continuing our longstanding support of Wi-Fi Alliance driven technology advancements and to providing our customers with next generation Wi-Fi toolkits for a new era in connected experiences,” – Rahul Patel, senior vice president and general manager, connectivity, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc.

“Wi-Fi has constantly evolved over the past 20 years, serving the ever-growing need for faster speeds and more reliable connectivity. For 2019, we see Wi-Fi 6 becoming mainstream by making use of advanced features such as 8-stream MIMO and multi-user MIMO. The next big innovation will happen with the opening of 6 GHz spectrum that will add a lot of unobstructed spectrum for Wi-Fi, allowing for even higher performance and quality of service.” – Ambroise Popper, VP of Strategy & Corporate Marketing, Quantenna

About Wi-Fi Alliance®
www.wi-fi.org
Wi-Fi Alliance® is the worldwide network of companies that brings you Wi-Fi®. Members of our collaboration forum come together from across the Wi-Fi ecosystem with the shared vision to connect everyone and everything, everywhere, while providing the best possible user experience. Since 2000, Wi-Fi Alliance has completed more than 45,000 Wi-Fi certifications. The Wi-Fi CERTIFIED™ seal of approval designates products with proven interoperability, backward compatibility, and the highest industry-standard security protections in place. Today, Wi-Fi carries more than half of the internet’s traffic in an ever-expanding variety of applications. Wi-Fi Alliance continues to drive the adoption and evolution of Wi-Fi, which billions of people rely on every day.

Media contacts: 
Andrea Torres
Highwire PR for Wi-Fi Alliance
wi-fi@highwirepr.com
+1-415-963-4174 ext. 13

Wi-Fi Alliance® certification program supports next generation Wi-Fi®
 

Austin, TX and Las Vegas, NV – January 8, 2019 – With industry momentum mounting around Wi-Fi 6, Wi-Fi Alliance® introduces Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 6™ to ensure devices based on IEEE 802.11ax technology meet industry agreed standards for interoperability and security. The Wi-Fi Alliance certification program, coming in the third quarter of 2019, will provide capacity, coverage, and performance required by users to experience next generation Wi-Fi® use cases, from streaming ultra high-definition (Ultra HD) movies to mission critical business applications.

Advanced capabilities supported by Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 6 bring innovation for Wi-Fi to excel even in diverse Wi-Fi environments with many devices. Key benefits include higher data rates, increased network capacity, improved performance in congested environments, and improved power efficiency. These capabilities include:

• Uplink and downlink orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA): increases network efficiency and lowers latency for high demand environments
• Multi-user multiple input multiple output (MU-MIMO): allows more data to be transferred at once and enables an access point to transmit to a larger number of concurrent clients at once
• Transmit beamforming: enables higher data rates at a given range resulting in greater network capacity
• 1024 quadrature amplitude modulation mode (1024-QAM): increases throughput in Wi-Fi devices by encoding more data in the same amount of spectrum
• Target wake time (TWT): significantly improves battery life in Wi-Fi devices, such as Internet of Things (IoT) devices

Earlier this year, Wi-Fi Alliance introduced a new consumer friendly naming structure that provides users with an easy to understand designation for both the Wi-Fi technology supported in their device and the Wi-Fi technology available for the connection to a network. Recent polling data by Wakefield Research on behalf of Wi-Fi Alliance indicates more than half of users want the latest technology in their devices, but nearly three-quarters of respondents avoid buying devices when it is too difficult to understand technical labels and descriptions. New generational terminology will help consumers more easily identify devices with the latest Wi-Fi technology and better understand if devices will deliver the expected Wi-Fi experience.

“Wi-Fi continues to be a predominant technology for accessing the internet, with a strong history of success,” said Andrew Zignani, Senior Research Analyst, ABI Research. “Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 6 will further escalate Wi-Fi’s role, with more than one billion Wi-Fi 6 chipsets expected to be shipped annually in 2022.”

Wi-Fi 6 products will be prominently featured at #CES2019. High-performance access points, laptops, and other new products will be displayed by Wi-Fi Alliance members on the show floor. Wi-Fi 6 devices will enhance the user experience in both consumer and enterprise applications and will be particularly useful in homes, smart cars, businesses, e-Learning, IoT, stadiums, public venues, and transportation hubs. Wi-Fi 6 will support a range of use cases in these scenarios, including high-definition streaming, virtual reality, interactive HD and 4K video, asset tracking and sensors, and more efficient uploading and downloading capabilities.

“Wi-Fi 6 delivers features to satisfy users’ evolving connectivity needs and to enable more efficiency in the expanding places where users rely on Wi-Fi,” said Edgar Figueroa, president and CEO, Wi-Fi Alliance. “Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 6 continues a nearly 20-year history of providing standards-based, interoperability testing to ensure Wi-Fi devices meet expectations for quality and interoperability.”

For more information on Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 6, please visit: https://www.wi-fi.org/discover-wi-fi/wi-fi-certified-6.

Industry support for Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 6

“Wi-Fi 6 is expected to bring increased speed and capacity, and it will more efficiently support the increasing density of devices in the connected home with lower latency and enhanced battery life. Coupled with AirTies’ Smart Wi-Fi software and cloud-based management, operators will be able to upgrade Wi-Fi performance and coverage, proactively fix and monitor Wi-Fi issues, and improve overall customer satisfaction for the super connected homes of tomorrow.” – Metin Taskin, CTO of AirTies

 “Wi-Fi 6 is a welcomed improvement in a technology that has revolutionized how people manage their lives and connect with others, and what most enterprises rely on as the backbone of their business. Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 6 will be an important step in ensuring the best user experience, and ARRIS looks forward to certifying Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 6 solutions that improve connectivity and Wi-Fi management in the most demanding residential and enterprise environments, including hospitality, education, outdoor venue, and smart city applications.” – Charles Cheevers, CTO, Customer Premises Solutions at ARRIS

“The sixth generation of Wi-Fi is here today. Market-leading Wi-Fi 6 routers, powered by Broadcom's chips, are already available at retail outlets including Amazon and Best Buy. 2019 will be the year of Wi-Fi 6 as it rapidly proliferates with smart phones. The wireless experience on our mobile phones will now be ever so swift, secure, and steady as we seamlessly stream or share our digital memories. So don't forget to ask for Wi-Fi 6 when you buy your new phone or wireless router this year.” – Vijay Nagarajan, Vice President of Marketing, Mobile Connectivity Division at Broadcom

“The rollout of this Wi-Fi 6 certification is another exciting step forward for the unlicensed ecosystem. Wi-Fi 6 brings enhanced performance to connected environments and will be key for powering next generation use cases. As the industry gathers at #CES2019, the inherent strengths of Wi-Fi will be front and center and Wi-Fi 6 will demonstrate how wireless is being reimagined.” – Dr. Derek Peterson, CTO, Boingo Wireless

“CEVA is proud to release Wi-Fi 6 MAC and modem IP platforms to the market and we look forward to achieving W-Fi CERTIFIED 6 status once available. Our existing Wi-Fi 4 and Wi-Fi 5 customers are already upgrading to Wi-Fi 6 to benefit from the host of new features and the impressive performance and power consumption improvements that this latest generation standard provides. We expect Wi-Fi 6 to be widely adopted across mobile, smart home, networking, and the Internet of Things.” – Aviv Malinovitch, GM of the Connectivity BU at CEVA

“Wi-Fi 6 deepens and expands Wi-Fi as the de facto home networking technology, offering uninterrupted, long-range performance for high-density networks of connected automation and media devices. The efficient and scheduled network performance of Wi-Fi 6 enables Cypress to bring a more robust user experience from the home to in-car infotainment with advanced media coexistence and power efficient networking.” – Brian Bedrosian, vice president of marketing for the IoT Compute and Wireless Business Unit at Cypress Semiconductor Corp.

“2019 will be a breakout year for Wi-Fi users who will be amazed at what their devices will accomplish for the next-generation of consumer and business applications resulting from the performance and security enhancements realized by Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 6 (“Wi-Fi 6”) infrastructure. Users will also receive an operator-grade radio experience, enabling 5G networks to seamlessly incorporate Wi-Fi 6 for additional capacity. As always, Aruba will continue to ensure our networking technologies are fully compliant with Wi-Fi Alliance certification standards for interoperability and security.” - Chuck Lukaszewski, vice president of wireless strategy and standards for Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company

 “Wi-Fi 6 is a game changer in connectivity, offering consumers exactly what they are seeking – the fastest, most responsive and reliable Wi-Fi for their always-connected lives. Intel supports Wi-Fi 6 and is on track for Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 6 solutions for both PCs and home routers and gateways to ensure our market-leading products deliver the best possible connected experiences.” – Eric McLaughlin, General Manager of Wireless Solutions Group, Intel Corporation

“Marvell remains at the forefront of wireless solutions with innovations like Wi-Fi 6, which will greatly improve the reliability and security for users. Marvell has worked closely with Wi-Fi Alliance to bring this technology to market and is one of the first to offer a full line of products that fully implement Wi-Fi 6 capabilities.” - Mark Montierth, Vice President and General Manager, Wireless Connectivity Business Unit at Marvell Semiconductor

“As a global leader in the shipment of Wi-Fi enabled products, we recognize the importance of Wi-Fi Alliance certification as we bring the latest Wi-Fi technologies to a widening base of consumers and enterprises, and we are a proud supporter of the forthcoming interoperability program for Wi-Fi 6 (11ax).  With our long history of collaboration with Wi-Fi Alliance, and extensive support of program development and interoperability test beds for new Wi-Fi programs, you can expect to see Qualcomm Technologies, and our mobile and infrastructure customers, to receive this vital Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 6 designation by Wi-Fi Alliance,” said Rahul Patel, senior vice president and general manager, connectivity and networking, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc.

“Quantenna welcomes Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 6 and the significant benefits it has to offer. We are offering a full array of Wi-Fi 6 products and plan to actively participate in the Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 6™ program. By full implementation of this program, we continue our commitment to enhance connectivity for an exceptional user experience.” – Ambroise Popper, vice president of strategy and corporate marketing, Quantenna

About Wi-Fi Alliance®
www.wi-fi.org
Wi-Fi Alliance® is the worldwide network of companies that brings you Wi-Fi®. Members of our collaboration forum come together from across the Wi-Fi ecosystem with the shared vision to connect everyone and everything, everywhere, while providing the best possible user experience. Since 2000, Wi-Fi Alliance has completed more than 45,000 Wi-Fi certifications. The Wi-Fi CERTIFIED™ seal of approval designates products with proven interoperability, backward compatibility, and the highest industry-standard security protections in place. Today, Wi-Fi carries more than half of the internet’s traffic in an ever-expanding variety of applications. Wi-Fi Alliance continues to drive the adoption and evolution of Wi-Fi, which billions of people rely on every day.

Media contacts: 
Andrea Torres
Highwire PR for Wi-Fi Alliance
wi-fi@highwirepr.com
+1-415-963-4174 ext. 13

Methodological note: The Wi-Fi Alliance Survey was conducted by Wakefield Research (www.wakefieldresearch.com) among 1,000 U.S. adults, ages 18+, between December 14 and December 19, 2018, using an email invitation and an online survey. Quotas have been set to ensure reliable and accurate representation of the U.S. adult population 18 and older.

Results of any sample are subject to sampling variation. The magnitude of the variation is measurable and is affected by the number of interviews and the level of the percentages expressing the results. For the interviews conducted in this particular study, the chances are 95 in 100 that a survey result does not vary, plus or minus, by more than 3.1 percentage points from the result that would be obtained if interviews had been conducted with all persons in the universe represented by the sample.

Austin, TX and Washington D.C. – January 3, 2019 – Wi-Fi Alliance® congratulates the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Commissioner Brendan Carr on reconfirmation by the Senate. Commissioner Carr’s experience in technology, communications law, and policy has proven to be a great asset to the FCC and its constituents. We look forward to working with Commissioner Carr on achieving the Wi-Fi Alliance mission of connecting everyone and everything, everywhere with Wi-Fi®.

About Wi-Fi Alliance®
www.wi-fi.org
Wi-Fi Alliance® is the worldwide network of companies that brings you Wi-Fi®. Members of our collaboration forum come together from across the Wi-Fi ecosystem with the shared vision to connect everyone and everything, everywhere, while providing the best possible user experience. Since 2000, Wi-Fi Alliance has completed more than 40,000 Wi-Fi certifications. The Wi-Fi CERTIFIED™ seal of approval designates products with proven interoperability, backward compatibility, and the highest industry-standard security protections in place. Today, Wi-Fi carries more than half of the internet’s traffic in an ever-expanding variety of applications. Wi-Fi Alliance continues to drive the adoption and evolution of Wi-Fi, which billions of people rely on every day.

Media contacts: 
Andrea Torres
Highwire PR for Wi-Fi Alliance
wi-fi@highwirepr.com
+1-415-963-4174 ext. 13

Austin, TX and Washington D.C. – January 3, 2019 – Wi-Fi Alliance® congratulates Geoffrey Starks on his confirmation by the Senate as commissioner to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). We recognize Commissioner Starks’ enduring commitment to the public service and expertise in communications policy and look forward to working with him on achieving the Wi-Fi Alliance mission of connecting everyone and everything, everywhere with Wi-Fi®.

About Wi-Fi Alliance®
www.wi-fi.org
Wi-Fi Alliance® is the worldwide network of companies that brings you Wi-Fi®. Members of our collaboration forum come together from across the Wi-Fi ecosystem with the shared vision to connect everyone and everything, everywhere, while providing the best possible user experience. Since 2000, Wi-Fi Alliance has completed more than 40,000 Wi-Fi certifications. The Wi-Fi CERTIFIED™ seal of approval designates products with proven interoperability, backward compatibility, and the highest industry-standard security protections in place. Today, Wi-Fi carries more than half of the internet’s traffic in an ever-expanding variety of applications. Wi-Fi Alliance continues to drive the adoption and evolution of Wi-Fi, which billions of people rely on every day.

Media contacts: 
Andrea Torres
Highwire PR for Wi-Fi Alliance
wi-fi@highwirepr.com
+1-415-963-4174 ext. 13

Wi-Fi evolves, maintains core strengths for next generation use cases

Austin, TX – December 18, 2018 – Wi-Fi® addresses a broad range of next generation connectivity scenarios both today and in the future, as explored by Wi-Fi Alliance® in a new whitepaper, Next generation Wi-Fi: The future of connectivity. With an array of portfolio enhancements and evolution to Wi-Fi 6, the whitepaper details Wi-Fi’s broadening ability to support advanced use cases while maintaining inherent strengths that have made Wi‑Fi a success. Wi-Fi delivers reliability, security, and interoperability, and will soon deliver greater capacity, faster speeds, and lower latency to support next generation use cases such as augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), Ultra high-definition (Ultra HD) video, multiparty gaming, Internet of Things (IoT), and other immersive experiences.

For nearly two decades, Wi-Fi networks have created a distributed connectivity fabric that brings Wi-Fi where it is needed most: in homes, inside buildings, and in dense outdoor areas. Wi-Fi has done this while protecting users with a high level of security and making efficient use of available unlicensed spectrum. The new whitepaper includes details on the many inherent strengths in today’s Wi-Fi that further pave the way towards addressing next generation connectivity, such as:

• Affordable performance
• Unlicensed spectrum operation
• Ease of use
• Self-deployment
• Long-term compatibility

“Wi-Fi continues to add a richer set of capabilities that broaden deployment scenarios,” said Edgar Figueroa, president and CEO, Wi-Fi Alliance. “Excitement around new technologies will come and go, and meanwhile, Wi-Fi maintains its strong track record and commitment to core competencies that will continue to deliver mission critical connectivity and to carry the bulk of the world’s data traffic.”

The Wi-Fi Alliance portfolio of technologies delivers a broad range of scenarios from low power to high-performance and capacity. Today’s Wi-Fi already supports high-resolution video streaming, Wi‑Fi calling, smart home monitoring, hotspot access, automation of city-wide services, residential AR/VR applications, and seamless roaming. Wi-Fi 6 brings a new level of Wi-Fi capacity and performance, and enhancements to WiGig in the 60 GHz millimeter wave band will deliver faster speeds and longer ranges. Wi-Fi will provide connectivity for many advanced use cases in connected homes, connected enterprises, IoT, smart cities, carrier services, and public venues. Additionally, Wi-Fi HaLow™ will enable a variety of power-efficient use cases for connected car, digital healthcare, and industrial scenarios.

Wi-Fi’s installed base of more than nine billion devices enables delivery of next generation connectivity as part of a gradual transition, with backward compatibility to support legacy devices. Wi-Fi 6 will be introduced where needed and will not require a sizeable investment in new infrastructure, while still providing many advancements in performance and capacity. Similarly, users will be able to upgrade to Wi‑Fi 6 devices as desired. Wi-Fi's ability to address many next generation use cases today reduces the pressure and urgency for operators to deploy more expensive cellular networks, and for subscribers to buy new mobile devices to experience advanced use cases.

Next generation Wi-Fi: The future of connectivity expands on Wi-Fi’s five key inherent strengths that have made it nearly ubiquitous in devices and networks, and further explores Wi-Fi’s evolution to address many important, next generation use cases. The paper outlines advanced use cases that are available today, while also building excitement for what is to come over the next few years. The paper also describes Wi-Fi’s complementary role with 5G, as well as further describing the economic and societal benefits that Wi-Fi brings to our lives.

The full paper is available for download here.

Industry support for next generation Wi-Fi

“Where previous generations of Wi-Fi offered mostly improved data rates and performance, Wi-Fi 6 is designed to deliver transformational change to the traditional Wi-Fi architecture. Wi-Fi 6’s ability to effectively communicate with multiple clients simultaneously adds a level of capacity, performance, and network efficiency never before thought possible over a wireless network. In additional to traditional wireless network demands, IoT, smart cities, connected home, and VR/AR demands will put additional strain on the Wi-Fi network. Wi-Fi 6 has the capability to support and deliver this level of performance. Wi-Fi 6 will support a positive experience to the user (and IT administrator) even in the most dense environments.” - Perry Correll, product management director, Aerohive Networks

"Wi-Fi remains the future of connectivity, as outlined in this concise and insightful new white paper from Wi-Fi Alliance. Innovations such as Wi-Fi 6 coupled with AirTies’ Smart Wi-Fi software will help operators upgrade Wi-Fi performance and coverage, proactively fix and monitor Wi-Fi issues, and improve overall customer satisfaction for the super connected homes of tomorrow." – Metin Taskin, CTO of AirTies 

“Technologies like Wi-Fi 6 and Passpoint will steer unlicensed networks into the 5G era, meeting high performance expectations across speed, latency, reliability, security and traffic management. To realize digital transformations for both people and things, we’ll need Wi-Fi and its ability to carry the bulk of data traffic with unparalleled efficiencies.” – Dr. Derek Peterson, CTO at Boingo Wireless

“In our increasingly digital world, Wi-Fi is more important than ever. It connects us in a cost-effective way whether we are at work, at home or on the go. It adds nearly $2 trillion to the global economy every year. As we look for new ways to seamlessly share what we create, Wi-Fi 6 will keep pace to deliver a swift, steady, and secure consumer experience. This white paper by Wi-Fi Alliance aptly highlights the continuous impact of Wi-Fi.” – Vijay Nagarajan, Vice President of Marketing, Mobile Connectivity Division at Broadcom

“At CEVA, we are already seeing strong market demand for Wi-Fi 6, due to the new features, significantly improved performance and lower power consumption it enables for a wide range of use cases. We have been developing and licensing Wi-Fi MAC and modem IPs for many generations and both our existing customers and our many new prospects are very excited by the capabilities that Wi-Fi 6 brings to the next-generation of smart and connected devices.” – Aviv Malinovitch, general manager of the connectivity business unit at CEVA

“For many years, Wi-Fi has fulfilled its brand promise of “anyone, anytime, anyplace” connectivity at a great price, driving almost $2T of global economic value per annum. The Wi-Fi Alliance’s whitepaper provides yet more evidence that every market segment, including Cisco’s customers in the sophisticated and very demanding enterprise and Service Provider segments, can be confident that Wi-Fi 6 will continue fulfilling this promise and solve real problems well into the future." – Matt MacPherson, Wireless CTO, Cisco

“Wi-Fi is the primary connectivity method for billions of devices, users and things. With the new capabilities offered by Wi-Fi 6, and the pending expansion of unlicensed spectrum, Wi-Fi is in a unique position as the ideal connectivity medium to support a wide range of emerging, innovative, next-generation use cases, including those expected from 5G.” – Chuck Lukaszewski, vice president of wireless strategy and standards for Hewlett Packard Enterprise

Wi-Fi is a true mass phenomenon. Millions of households and businesses in Europe operate their own Wi-Fi networks, making them the fundamental basis for modern, digital, life and digitalized business processes. This is a role only Wi-Fi will be able to play, even in an era of 5G deployments.  – Jan Buis, Vice President Wireless LAN, IoT & Switches, LANCOM Systems

“Wi-Fi technology connects billions of people and their wireless devices to the content and experiences they depend on and enjoy every day. As the number of connected devices and the expectations for faster, more efficient networks grow for families, businesses, and beyond, new technologies like Wi-Fi 6 are meeting the demands of tomorrow’s connected world today. As a global leader in Wi-Fi shipments and deployments, Qualcomm works with leading manufacturers to deliver Wi-Fi 6 technology for the most innovative use cases.” –  Rahul Patel, senior vice president and general manager, connectivity and networking, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc.

“Wi-Fi 6 will help enable the next generation of Wi-Fi connectivity by providing significant benefits to end users by enabling faster access to the network, reduced interference and easier integration of IoT devices. Quantenna is a strong supporter of Wi-Fi 6 and our portfolio of advanced solutions provides our customers with its full benefits.” – Ambroise Popper, vice president, strategy and corporate marketing, Quantenna

“With more than 20 billion devices shipped and many new features coming, there is no doubt that Wi-Fi will continue to play a dominant role in our increasingly wireless world. The Wi-Fi Alliance’s new paper, Next Generation Wi-Fi, does a nice job highlighting the major capabilities and services enabled by Wi-Fi 6 and WiGig technologies, the disparate spectrum bands that will be utilized, and the societal and economic benefits of Wi-Fi. Ruckus looks forward to continuing our leadership in Wi-Fi innovation as we enter the ‘5G Era.” – Dave Wright, director of regulatory affairs and network standards, Ruckus Networks, an ARRIS Company

About Wi-Fi Alliance®
www.wi-fi.org
Wi-Fi Alliance® is the worldwide network of companies that brings you Wi-Fi®. Members of our collaboration forum come together from across the Wi-Fi ecosystem with the shared vision to connect everyone and everything, everywhere, while providing the best possible user experience. Since 2000, Wi-Fi Alliance has completed more than 40,000 Wi-Fi certifications. The Wi-Fi CERTIFIED™ seal of approval designates products with proven interoperability, backward compatibility, and the highest industry-standard security protections in place. Today, Wi-Fi carries more than half of the internet’s traffic in an ever-expanding variety of applications. Wi-Fi Alliance continues to drive the adoption and evolution of Wi-Fi, which billions of people rely on every day.

Media contacts: 
Andrea Torres
Highwire PR for Wi-Fi Alliance
wi-fi@highwirepr.com
+1-415-963-4174 ext. 13

On 23 October, the Federal Communications Commission adopted the Unlicensed Use of the 6 GHz Band proposal

Wi-Fi Alliance® applauds the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) innovative proposal for a regulatory approach that addresses the growing need for Wi-Fi® spectrum capacity. In the past 20 years, the demand for Wi-Fi connectivity has increased manifold while unlicensed access to critically important mid-band spectrum has remained relatively unchanged. With today’s action, the FCC took an important step towards preserving broadband wireless connectivity for millions of Americans and creating new opportunities for the next generation of Wi-Fi. Wi-Fi Alliance looks forward to contributing to the Unlicensed Use of the 6 GHz Band proceeding.

About Wi-Fi Alliance®
www.wi-fi.org
Wi-Fi Alliance® is the worldwide network of companies that brings you Wi-Fi®. Members of our collaboration forum come together from across the Wi-Fi ecosystem with the shared vision to connect everyone and everything, everywhere, while providing the best possible user experience. Since 2000, Wi-Fi Alliance has completed more than 40,000 Wi-Fi certifications. The Wi-Fi CERTIFIED™ seal of approval designates products with proven interoperability, backward compatibility, and the highest industry-standard security protections in place. Today, Wi-Fi carries more than half of the internet’s traffic in an ever-expanding variety of applications. Wi-Fi Alliance continues to drive the adoption and evolution of Wi-Fi, which billions of people rely on every day.

Media contacts: 
Andrea Torres
Highwire PR for Wi-Fi Alliance
wi-fi@highwirepr.com
+1-415-963-4174 ext. 13

New study projects increasing Wi-Fi economic contribution in next five years

Austin, TX – October 9, 2018 – A new report commissioned by Wi-Fi Alliance® estimates the current annual global economic value of Wi-Fi® at $1.96 trillion, projecting that number to surpass $3.47 trillion by 2023. Wi-Fi brings the greatest impact to the economy in four key categories: developing alternative technologies to expand consumer choice, creating innovative business models to deliver unique services, expanding access to communications services for fixed and mobile networks, and complementing wireline and cellular technologies to enhance their effectiveness. In addition to determining Wi-Fi’s global impact, the study evaluates individual economies of six countries, highlighting the incredible value of Wi-Fi and underscoring the need for adequate unlicensed spectrum to ensure Wi-Fi continues to deliver benefits to consumers, business, and economies.

Key findings of the report include:

• United States: Wi-Fi contributes $499 billion in economic value today, $993 billion by 2023
• United Kingdom: Wi-Fi contributes $54 billion in economic value today, $71 billion by 2023
• France: Wi-Fi contributes $44 billion in economic value today, $64 billion by 2023
• Germany: Wi-Fi contributes $94 billion in economic value today, $132 billion by 2023
• Japan: Wi-Fi contributes $171 billion in economic value today, $248 billion by 2023
• South Korea: Wi-Fi contributes $68 billion in economic value today, $138 billion by 2023

“Wi-Fi has a powerful and often underestimated economic impact all over the world,“ said Edgar Figueroa, president and CEO, Wi-Fi Alliance. “This study brings attention to the tremendous economic benefit from Wi-Fi, and underscores the importance of favorable spectrum policy to ensure Wi-Fi continues delivering even greater economic and societal benefits for many years to come.”

Consumers and business depend on Wi-Fi for connectivity, productivity, and critical operations each day, but the true economic value of Wi-Fi has been difficult to define due to diverse unlicensed spectrum environments. The study defines economic value by looking at the tangible, economic gains that Wi-Fi provides consumers and producers, and net contribution to Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The study also estimates Wi-Fi’s role in job creation in each country through a valuation of its impact on different categories of employment.

“Wi-Fi technology should be recognized as one of the dominant economic engines of the digital ecosystem,” said Dr. Raul Katz, Wi-Fi Economic Study author and President of Telecom Advisory Services. “Governments should develop the right incentives to stimulate the social and economic benefits of Wi-Fi, including assigning enough spectrum to avoid congestion across the globe, promoting the development of start-ups that rely on Wi-Fi to create applications, and leveraging Wi‑Fi technology to address the digital divide barrier.”

Please visit www.valueofwifi.com for more information and to download the full report.

Note on methodology

Wi-Fi Alliance® commissioned a study from Telecom Advisory Services (TAS), headed by economist Dr. Raul Katz, to analyze the economic contribution of Wi-Fi in 2018 and forecast expected economic value in 2023. The study, which also estimates global value and job creation attributed to Wi-Fi, focuses on six world economies, and then calculates an estimated global value. The countries studied are the United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Japan, and South Korea. 

About Wi-Fi Alliance®
www.wi-fi.org
Wi-Fi Alliance® is the worldwide network of companies that brings you Wi-Fi®. Members of our collaboration forum come together from across the Wi-Fi ecosystem with the shared vision to connect everyone and everything, everywhere, while providing the best possible user experience. Since 2000, Wi-Fi Alliance has completed more than 40,000 Wi-Fi certifications. The Wi-Fi CERTIFIED seal of approval designates products with proven interoperability, backward compatibility, and the highest industry-standard security protections in place. Today, Wi-Fi carries more than half of the internet’s traffic in an ever-expanding variety of applications. Wi-Fi Alliance continues to drive the adoption and evolution of Wi-Fi, which billions of people rely on every day.

Media contacts:
Stephanie Burke
Highwire PR for Wi-Fi Alliance
wi-fi@highwirepr.com
+1-646-838-1190 ext. 48

Austin, TX and Washington, D.C. – October 4, 2018 – Wi-Fi Alliance® applauds Representatives Bob Latta (R-OH) and Jerry McNerney (D-CA) on the creation of a Congressional Wi-Fi Caucus dedicated to addressing important issues shaping the future of Wi-Fi®. The bipartisan caucus is the first Congressional caucus solely dedicated to Wi-Fi-specific policy issues, and will provide a forward-thinking forum for legislators to learn about Wi-Fi related issues and to consider solutions.

Wi-Fi is a shining example of how forward-thinking policies can establish technological leadership, enable connectivity for billions of users around the world, create millions of jobs, and contribute hundreds of billions of dollars in economic value. As demand for connectivity increases, Wi-Fi’s importance to our nation grows more critical. Wi-Fi Alliance looks forward to supporting Representatives Latta and McNerney and the entire Wi-Fi Caucus in helping legislators make informed policy decisions that will ensure the Wi-Fi industry will continue to deliver benefits, innovation, and economic value.

Wi-Fi Alliance Member Support for Wi-Fi Caucus

“Wi-Fi has evolved from a niche technology to a critical requirement at school, in the office and at home, and with the IoT evolution it will become even more imbedded into every aspect of our lives. Aerohive believes that with the growth of Wi-Fi use cases, number of devices and the resulting bandwidth demands, it is past time for congress to take a stronger role in assisting organizations such as Wi-Fi Alliance by offering congressional support for the technology and supporting the need for additional spectrum to support these growing demands.” – Perry Correll, product management director, Aerohive Networks

“ARRIS applauds Representative Latta and Representative McNerney for their bipartisan leadership in forming and co-chairing the Congressional Wi-Fi Caucus. It is increasingly important that our leaders fully understand the essential services and enormous economic value delivered to our nation by Wi-Fi technology and solutions. The Wi-Fi Caucus will be a tremendous resource to all the members and their staffs, and we look forward to working with the chairmen in this endeavor.” – Ian Whiting, President of Ruckus Networks, on behalf of ARRIS, and its Enterprise Networking arm, Ruckus Networks

“Aruba is thrilled to see Representatives McNerney and Latta launch a new Wi-Fi Caucus in the House of Representatives. Wi-Fi has become an integral part of our economy that empowers billions of people to connect to the Internet. We are committed to working with this new Caucus to promote and protect the policies that will enable Wi-Fi to grow, and we thank these Representatives for their leadership.” – Chuck Lukaszewski, VP of Wireless Strategy, Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company

“We applaud Representatives Latta and McNerney for their leadership in establishing the Wi-Fi Caucus. Wi-Fi has been an incredible success story. In less than 20 years Wi-Fi has become the preferred way for Americans to access the Internet, it has enabled the video revolution, and it has made dumb homes smart - it is connecting everything. With its importance to the U.S. economy, contributing billions of dollars in economic value every year, Broadcom believes that it is important that Congress supports policies that will enable Wi-Fi to thrive over the next 20 years – making smart homes become genius through technologies such as advanced robotics and artificial intelligence.” – Christopher Szymanski, director of marketing and government affairs for Wireless Communications and Connectivity at Broadcom

“Technology-focused caucuses like this one serve an important role in helping to educate members and staff about important spectrum policy issues, and to highlight connections between technology and the US economy as well. Measured by data consumption, Wi-Fi is the most important radio technology in the world, and Cisco is grateful that members have stepped up to lead and participate in the Wi-Fi Caucus at an important time for the future growth of the industry.” – Mary Brown, Senior Director, Government Affairs, Cisco

“Qualcomm thanks Rep. Latta and Rep. McNerney for their foresight and leadership in establishing the bipartisan Congressional Wi-Fi Caucus.  As a leading innovator in Wi-Fi solutions, including for network infrastructure, IoT and smartphones, Qualcomm understands the critical role that Wi-Fi plays for wireless consumers and businesses.  The Wi-Fi Caucus will be an important forum for legislators and staff to learn about Wi-Fi innovations that benefit their constituents and to discuss public policy issues unique to the use of unlicensed spectrum.  We look forward to supporting its efforts.” – Rolf de Vegt, Vice President Technical Standards, Qualcomm

About Wi-Fi Alliance®
www.wi-fi.org
Wi-Fi Alliance® is the worldwide network of companies that brings you Wi-Fi®. Members of our collaboration forum come together from across the Wi-Fi ecosystem with the shared vision to connect everyone and everything, everywhere, while providing the best possible user experience. Since 2000, Wi-Fi Alliance has completed more than 40,000 Wi-Fi certifications. The Wi-Fi CERTIFIED™ seal of approval designates products with proven interoperability, backward compatibility, and the highest industry-standard security protections in place. Today, Wi-Fi carries more than half of the internet’s traffic in an ever-expanding variety of applications. Wi-Fi Alliance continues to drive the adoption and evolution of Wi-Fi, which billions of people rely on every day.

Media contacts: 
Stephanie Burke
Highwire PR for Wi-Fi Alliance
wi-fi@highwirepr.com
+1-646-838-1190 ext. 48