Today’s Wi-Fi® seeing unprecedented demand, growth underscored by Wi-Fi Alliance® members

Austin, Texas – May 11, 2022 – Since its introduction in 2019, Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 6™ has seen rapid adoption, surpassing 50 percent market share in three years compared to four years for Wi-Fi 5. This accelerated adoption is driven by demand for high performance Wi-Fi® in phones, tablets, and PCs, and advanced features and capabilities are bringing new opportunities for Internet of Things (IoT), service provider deployments, and dense public areas to deliver better experiences. Wi-Fi 6 extension into 6 GHz has further attributed to increasing demand, and Wi-Fi 6E has seen unprecedented interest among regulatory bodies worldwide, as well as strong adoption in products and in service provider and enterprise deployments. More than 2.3 billion Wi-Fi 6 products and 350 million Wi-Fi 6E products are expected to enter the market in 2022, and more than 15 percent of all Wi-Fi 6 shipments will also be Wi-Fi 6E this year1.  

In 2022, Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 6 added enhancements to best deliver advanced use cases. Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E are optimally equipped to meet today’s connectivity demands and allow a steady rate of new product and service innovation.

“Wi-Fi 6E is widely available and here today and Wi-Fi Alliance® members are seeing strong demand that will continue for years to come,” said Edgar Figueroa, president and CEO of Wi-Fi Alliance. “Wi-Fi Alliance has certified more than 400 Wi-Fi 6E devices, equating to hundreds of thousands of interoperable Wi-Fi devices that are already delivering a high-quality user experience.”

Product vendors and enterprises are driving the transition to Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E today, and strong momentum in three particular areas underscores the need to consider these technologies in product plans and deployment decisions.

Product momentum

There are now hundreds of devices supporting Wi-Fi 6E, with more than 70 laptop models, dozens of consumer and enterprise access points, smartphones – including marquee devices like Google Pixel 6 and 6 Pro, Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra and Plus – and smart televisions. By 2025, Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E are expected to surpass 80 percent market share and dominate the smartphone market2. Companies are seeing unprecedented demand for Wi-Fi 6E products, which is having positive impacts on their business, and the expanded capacity and wider channels are bringing benefits to users and enterprises. Other companies are meeting significant shipment milestones, noting that customers and carrier partners are ramping up Wi-Fi 6E today. With growing demand for Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E and a supply chain coming back into balance after the pandemic, the technologies are poised for accelerated product adoption.

Deployment momentum

Several recent announcements demonstrate the momentum by service providers around the world to make Wi-Fi 6E available to their customers. Recognizing the growth in number of home-connected devices and need for high-quality networks, service providers are bringing speed and capacity improvements through Wi-Fi 6E gateways to ensure subscribers can rely on today’s Wi-Fi as a foundational component of their digital lives. Among the reasons for deploying Wi-Fi 6E for customers include greater support for downlink and uplink speeds, reducing network saturation and improving the remote work and home entertainment network experience. Successful trials demonstrating Wi-Fi 6E's tremendous potential have delivered fast connection speeds with low latencies, and healthcare facilities and education campuses are investing in low-latency, high-capacity Wi-Fi 6E networks to deliver mission-critical, high-bandwidth applications and services.

Regulatory momentum

Two years ago, the U.S. opened the 6 GHz band for Wi-Fi. Since then, more than 60 countries across Americas, EMEA, and APAC have or are considering making the band available for Wi-Fi. The Wi-Fi 6E ecosystem is expanding fast, and Wi-Fi 6E certification helps ensure worldwide interoperability for devices no matter where they are deployed. Several countries, including Brazil, Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Peru, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, and the United Arab Emirates have made the upper and lower 6 GHz band (5925-7125 MHz) available for Wi-Fi 6E. By making the full band available, countries such as Saudi Arabia are looking to harness the full potential of Wi-Fi 6E, noting that Wi-Fi is “crucial” to their citizens. Other countries have opened the lower part of the band (5925-6425 MHz) and their efforts are being applauded, but Wi-Fi 6E and future generations will best deliver their full potential by using the entire 1200 MHz of spectrum in the 6 GHz band.

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 70,000 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.

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More than 18 billion devices in use, 4.4 billion shipping in 2022

Austin, TX – January 20, 2022 – Wi-Fi® users demand more efficient, reliable, and secure connectivity in 2022. 6 GHz regulatory approvals, remote-hybrid work scenarios, and complex connectivity systems in home, enterprise, and Internet of Things (IoT) environments will only continue to drive demand for high capacity, low latency Wi-Fi. In 2022, nearly 18 billion Wi-Fi devices will be in use, and more than 4.4 billion devices will ship this year.1 As Wi-Fi momentum mounts, Wi-Fi Alliance® looks ahead at four Wi-Fi trends expected in 2022.  

Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E further adoption in homes and enterprises

Wi-Fi 6 reached 50 percent market adoption more quickly than previous Wi-Fi generations, fueled by demand for high quality Wi-Fi and more efficient, reliable connectivity in phones, tablets, and access points (AP). Additionally, enhanced performance, low latency, and greater power efficiencies allow Wi-Fi 6 to satisfy diverse needs of IoT in unrivaled ways. Increasing availability of 6 GHz worldwide coupled with Wi-Fi 6E interoperability certification created the foundation for a diverse Wi-Fi 6E ecosystem, as more than 350 million Wi-Fi 6E devices will enter the market in 2022.2 In 2022, Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E will become more commonplace in daily life, both in homes and enterprises. Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E solutions for PCs and notebooks and mesh systems have already been introduced, and we expect many more home networking, automotive, IoT, and augmented/virtual reality (AR/VR) solutions supporting Wi-Fi 6 to make their way into users’ hands. Wi-Fi 6E access points will be deployed in home networks to meet the needs of bandwidth intensive, latency sensitive applications, and more service providers will recognize the tremendous speed and capacity benefits Wi-Fi 6E delivers to customers by making Wi-Fi 6E home gateways and access points part of their subscription plans.

Wi-Fi Alliance advances AFC framework

Global momentum for Wi-Fi 6E increases daily, and there is a sustained impetus to make the full 1200 MHz of spectrum in 6 GHz available for Wi-Fi in more countries. In 2022, Wi-Fi Alliance will continue to lead development of the Automated Frequency Coordination (AFC) framework to ensure a diverse ecosystem of AFC service providers necessary to maximize adoption of outdoor and standard power Wi-Fi 6E in regions requiring AFC. The AFC system, already adopted into the 6 GHz regulatory framework in Canada and U.S., is also being considered by regulators in other countries. Wi-Fi Alliance has already announced the release of specifications and test plans for AFC system implementation, and more than a dozen potential AFC service providers have expressed interest to the Federal Communications Commission. This year, expect Wi-Fi Alliance to continue to maximize the adoption of standard power and outdoor Wi-Fi 6E and accelerate delivery of Wi-Fi 6E benefits.

Wi-Fi meets diverse IoT requirements

The global smart home market will reach more than $53 billion in 20223, fueled by consumer desire for connected appliances, security systems, and smart speakers that help save energy, time, and money. As companies invest trillions of dollars in IoT and consumers add more connected devices to their homes, Wi-Fi will further transform the smart home market in 2022. Wi-Fi has long been the technology of choice for IoT, and an expanded Wi-Fi IoT portfolio can now better meet diverse smart home connectivity needs. Wi-Fi 6 reinforces Wi-Fi is a premier option for IoT; Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E include features such as orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) that can improve performance in dense environments while target wake time (TWT) reduces battery consumption and makes Wi-Fi an ideal solution for sensor-based devices. Recently introduced Wi-Fi CERTIFIED HaLow™ delivers long range, low power Wi-Fi and enables a variety of new, power-efficient use cases for residential IoT and IIoT environments, as well as retail, agriculture, healthcare, smart home, and smart city markets. All Wi-Fi CERTIFIED™ devices require strong WPA3™ security, with the highest protections for IoT environments.

Wi-Fi networks reach new optimization levels

The growing number of devices and users relying on video conferencing, voice-over-IP services, X Reality (XR) applications, and high definition (UHD) streaming at home and in enterprise networks have placed additional strain on both network managers and service providers. The additional data traffic and advanced applications used on today’s Wi-Fi networks require a new level of network optimization. The Wi-Fi CERTIFIED portfolio of network optimization technologies has seen numerous advancements, resulting in Wi-Fi with greater mobility, enhanced network efficiency, and improved network visibility and management in home and enterprise networks in 2022. Optimizations including Wi-Fi CERTIFIED Easy Connect™ and Wi-Fi CERTIFIED EasyMesh™ now deliver more secure, smart, and efficient Wi-Fi home networks. Wi-Fi CERTIFIED Optimized Connectivity™ improves mobility when roaming within and across Wi-Fi networks and between Wi-Fi and cellular networks. Wi-Fi CERTIFIED QoS Management™ brings robust service delivery and high quality Wi-Fi experiences, while Wi-Fi CERTIFIED Data Elements™ helps service providers and network managers better manage complex Wi-Fi networks. In 2022 we will also see more Wi-Fi deployments by service providers in dense, city and public areas that support Wi-Fi CERTIFIED Passpoint®, a foundation of OpenRoaming framework, which raise the bar for speed, security, and reliability.

For more insight into 2022 Wi-Fi trends from Wi-Fi Alliance members, and to watch 2022 Wi-Fi trends videos from Airties, Aruba, ASSIA, Boingo, Broadcom Inc., CommScope, Extreme Networks, HFCL Limited, Intel Corporation, NetExperience, onsemi, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., please visit: https://bit.ly/2022WiFiTrends

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 70,000 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.

Follow Wi-Fi Alliance:
wi-fi.org/beacon
wi-fi.org/signal
facebook.com/wificertified
twitter.com/wifialliance
linkedin.com/company/wi-fi-alliance
youtube.com/wifialliance

Media Contact:
Michelle Panico
Highwire PR for Wi-Fi Alliance
wi-fi@highwirepr.com

Support for uplink capacity and greater power management benefit dense enterprise and IoT deployments

Austin, Texas – January 5, 2022 – With adoption of Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 6™ growing steadily, Wi-Fi Alliance® is evolving Wi-Fi 6 certification to meet increasing demands from today’s Wi-Fi® use cases. Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 6 Release 2 is now available, bringing new features that support increasing device and traffic density to deliver greater performance and power management with Wi-Fi devices and applications. Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 6 Release 2 adds support for uplink multi-user multiple input, multiple output (multi-user MIMO) to deliver smoother streaming services and video conferencing, faster uploads, and more reliable gaming. Additionally, three power management features improve Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 6 power efficiency, benefitting enterprise, industrial, and Internet of Things (IoT) applications. New features apply across all bands supported by Wi-Fi 6 – 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz and 6 GHz - bringing capacity, efficiency, coverage and performance benefits to residential, enterprise, and large public networks. Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 6 delivers the best experience with advanced applications, while providing strong WPA3™ security and promoting interoperability between Wi-Fi CERTIFIED™ devices.

“Wi-Fi delivers advanced capabilities that have driven tremendous global innovation, paving the way for massive growth in Wi-Fi applications that users rely on every day,” said Edgar Figueroa, president and CEO, Wi-Fi Alliance. “Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 6 Release 2 furthers Wi-Fi’s evolution to address today’s market needs, and supports more high-performance Wi-Fi scenarios with greater capacity, efficiency, and reliability.”

Wi-Fi uplink performance

Nearly two billion Wi-Fi 6 devices will enter the market in 20221, and today’s Wi-Fi supports increased device density, more bandwidth-hungry applications, and surges in uplink data demand in residential and enterprise environments. Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 6 Release 2 adds support for uplink multi-user MIMO, enabling devices to upload content concurrently to an access point (AP). Wi-Fi networks are supporting more upstream activity, with users frequently uploading work documents and videos to social media sites, and the trend toward greater uplink data consumption will further increase as more IoT devices send data via Wi-Fi to the cloud.

Uplink multi-user MIMO improves network performance and reduces latency while video conferencing, uploading documents, and any other mission-critical applications that require greater uplink capacity. Wi-Fi 6 deployments are increasing worldwide in large office buildings, public arenas, education campuses, high rise dwellings, and mass transportation hubs, and advanced Wi-Fi 6 capabilities drive innovation in the countless applications that rely on Wi-Fi. Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 6 Release 2 delivers comprehensive multi-user MIMO implementation to deliver strong Wi-Fi performance even in challenging environments with many Wi-Fi devices.

Wi-Fi power management

Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 6 Release 2 includes new features that bring power management improvements for devices in enterprise and IoT deployments. New low power and sleep mode enhancements – including broadcast target wake time (TWT), extended sleep time, and dynamic multi-user spatial multiplexing power save (SMPS)– enable power optimization of multiple battery powered devices. This trio of features allow multiple devices to receive extended sleep periods, allow for specific “wake up” times for transmitting data, and enable dynamic shut off of redundant receive chains to optimize power consumption in Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 6 Release 2 networks. Power management features benefit smart home, smart city, and Industrial IoT (IIoT) environments, and enable Wi-Fi to further its role in delivering IoT applications.

“Wi-Fi 6 adoption has outpaced previous Wi-Fi generations, driven by demand for better Wi-Fi connectivity in phones, tablets, PCs and access points to support high-performance, low latency uses in both residential and enterprise environments. Technological advancements continue to bring speed and efficiency benefits to a wide number of users and use cases, most importantly, in areas with high densities of users or client devices connecting and transferring large amounts of data,” said Phil Solis, Research Director at IDC. “Reduction in chipset costs and advancements in Wi-Fi 6 power management will also help shift the IoT space to more broadly adopt Wi-Fi 6 in the coming years.”

Industry support for Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 6 Release 2

“Today’s service providers want Wi-Fi 6 as part of a managed Wi-Fi solution to deliver the best possible connected home experience for consumers. It’s clear that the number of connected devices is increasing at an accelerated rate, and trends such as the ‘enterprization’ of the home, UHD video, telemedicine, and online gaming are all placing more demands on home networks. Wi-Fi 6 can address these demands, and Airties offers an extensive Wi-Fi 6 portfolio, powered by Airties Edge software for Wi-Fi 6 gateways and extenders.” – Metin Taskin, CTO, Airties

“Broadcom is pleased to have its Wi-Fi 6E access point and client device reference designs included in the Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 6 Release 2 test bed. The wide proliferation of Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E devices is already creating new experiences for the consumer. The Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 6 Release 2 certification program, which we are happy to be a part of, is designed to carry this momentum forward.” – Vijay Nagarajan, Vice President of Marketing for the Wireless Communications and Connectivity Division, Broadcom

“The breadth of new features that Wi-Fi offers consumers requires constant updates and sometimes staged releases to get products to the market. We applaud Wi-Fi Alliance for continuing to drive this phased process and the latest introduction of Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 6 Release 2, bringing powerful new features like uplink multi-user MIMO to Wi-Fi 6.” – Charles Cheevers, CTO, Home Networks, CommScope

“Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 6 was a game changer for IoT applications and Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 6 Release 2 extends these innovations even further. Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 6 Release 2 enhancements for TWT, uplink multi-user MIMO, and Extended Sleep Time allow for long-life battery-operated devices that also provide the added range for not only whole home coverage but whole property coverage including outdoor cameras, lighting, energy management systems, and sensors. Infineon’s AIROC™ Wi-Fi family of products support Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 6 Release 2 features, which coupled with advanced range and robustness improvement capabilities, improved power management, and a comprehensive security framework, delivers cutting edge solutions for IoT applications.” – Sivaram Trikutam, Senior Director, IoT Compute and Wireless, Infineon

“We would like to thank Wi-Fi Alliance for enabling the industry to ramp new Wi-Fi technologies through certification programs which help ensure device interoperability, and we are delighted to have the Intel® Wi-Fi 6E AX210 product be part of their latest test bed. New Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 6 Release 2 features like uplink MU-MIMO, coupled with new high-speed channels in the 6 GHz spectrum for Wi-Fi 6E, will help networks scale in their ability to deliver faster, more responsive Wi-Fi experiences as the number of devices continues to exponentially grow.” – Eric A. McLaughlin, VP of Client Computing Group, and GM of the Wireless Solutions Group, Intel Corporation

“With the demand for greater responsiveness and performance required by new disruptive, untethered real-time immersive experiences, Wi-Fi Alliance certification is crucial to ensure robust interoperability and rapid adoption of Wi-Fi 6 Release 2 devices. We’re honored that our WAV600-2 product family was selected as an access point test bed device for Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 6 Release 2 and that MaxLinear chipsets will empower the next generation of broadband platforms for multi-gigabit video, gaming, and other demanding low-latency services launching this year.” – Doron Tal, Vice President, Broadband Access, MaxLinear

“The Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 6 Release 2 program brings a number of improvements to high density wireless networks. We will see tangible advancements in uplink performance, power and enhanced range, unlocking new applications and use cases for residential, industrial and enterprise users. As part of the test bed of chipsets for Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 6 Release 2, MediaTek’s Filogic family provides fast, reliable and an always connected solution to help drive the Wi-Fi industry forward as we all rely on connected devices more than ever before.” – Alan Hsu, Corporate Vice President & General Manager of MediaTek’s Intelligent Connectivity business

“As one of the first companies to be certified for Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 6 Release 2 and to be included in Wi-Fi Alliance’s interoperability test bed, NXP continues to play a leading role in helping Wi-Fi Alliance innovate and drive the adoption of Wi-Fi 6. With Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 6 Release 2, Wi-Fi Alliance is proactively meeting the growing performance demands of advanced IoT applications that require significantly greater capacity and increased power efficiency both today and tomorrow.” – Larry Olivas, VP and GM of Wireless Connectivity Solutions, NXP Semiconductors

“There is a fundamental shift in how we work and play, with effective connectivity becoming critical for seamless transitions between our physical and virtual worlds. onsemi congratulates Wi-Fi Alliance’s timely introduction of Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 6 Release 2. This further helps improve the end user experience via uplink MU-MIMO and power efficiency optimizations, expanding opportunities for smoother and more reliable video, gaming and IoT applications.” – Irvind Ghai, vice president of product marketing, Wireless Connectivity and Signal Processing Division, onsemi

"To ensure productive and reliable connectivity while working, playing, and learning remotely, the demand for a better approach to uplink data has never been greater. Uplink MU-MIMO, a key feature of Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 6 Release 2, is designed to deliver in every environment. Qualcomm’s end-to-end solutions enable customers to deliver networking, IoT and mobile products that meet the moment, while deploying leading technology." – Rahul Patel, SVP & GM, Connectivity & Networking, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc

1 IDC Research, 2021

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 70,000 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.

Follow Wi-Fi Alliance:
wi-fi.org/beacon
wi-fi.org/signal
facebook.com/wificertified
twitter.com/wifialliance
linkedin.com/company/wi-fi-alliance
youtube.com/wifialliance

Media Contact:
Michelle Panico
Highwire PR for Wi-Fi Alliance
wi-fi@highwirepr.com

Secure, interoperable Wi-Fi expands connectivity for more IoT applications

Austin, TX – November 2, 2021 – Wi-Fi Alliance® introduces Wi-Fi CERTIFIED HaLow™ – the certification program for products incorporating IEEE 802.11ah technology – to expand Wi-Fi® applications for the Internet of Things (IoT). Wi-Fi HaLow™ operates in the sub-1 GHz band, enabling long range and low power connectivity, while providing a robust connection in challenging Wi-Fi environments. Wi-Fi HaLow will enable a variety of new, power-efficient use cases for IoT and Industrial IoT (IIoT) environments, as well as retail, agriculture, healthcare, smart home, and smart city markets.

Wi-Fi HaLow enables low power connectivity necessary for applications including sensors, personal wearable devices, and utility meters that require multi-year battery operation. Wi-Fi HaLow supports applications such as streaming compressed video from security cameras, even in challenging environments where the ability to penetrate walls or other barriers to provide a robust connection is an important consideration. In agriculture or logistics monitoring applications where long range is a priority, Wi-Fi HaLow delivers data at ranges exceeding one kilometer. Wi-Fi HaLow adopts existing Wi-Fi protocols to deliver many of the benefits that consumers have come to expect from Wi-Fi, including multi-vendor interoperability, strong WPA3™ security, easy setup, and seamless integration into IP networks.

“Wi-Fi CERTIFIED HaLow further extends Wi-Fi’s leading role in IoT to address a new range of secure and interoperable use cases that require longer range and lower power. Wi-Fi HaLow is a compelling addition to the Wi-Fi portfolio, making the full range of Wi-Fi capabilities an unmatched connectivity offering,” said Edgar Figueroa, president and CEO, Wi-Fi Alliance. “There are growing opportunities to streamline connectivity in the growing IoT market, and Wi-Fi HaLow builds on a universally trusted Wi-Fi foundation to pave the way for emerging IoT applications to benefit homes, businesses, and industries.” 

Wi-Fi’s expanding IoT portfolio
IoT connected devices in use worldwide are projected to exceed 30 billion units by 2025, more than doubling from 13.8 billion in 2021.1 The smart home IoT use case is a rapidly growing market, and more than 29 percent of businesses also use IoT technology to streamline processes and increase efficiency.2 Wi-Fi Alliance has a strong portfolio of technologies delivering low power, high performance, and secure Wi-Fi for a wide variety of IoT environments. Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 6™ is a strong complement to Wi-Fi HaLow for commercial, industrial, and residential IoT applications requiring fast data rates and low latency, such as AR/VR, home security systems with high-resolution video feeds, medical telemetry monitoring, and remote surgery. Wi-Fi CERTIFIED Easy Connect™ reduces the complexity of connecting devices to Wi-Fi networks, including the many IoT devices with little to no user interface, while simultaneously incorporating the highest security standards. All Wi-Fi CERTIFIED™ devices support WPA3, providing cutting edge security protocols to protect sensitive data and provide strong protections to users.

“Wi-Fi HaLow devices such as security cameras and tablets are being used in industrial environments today, and we expect devices to soon make their way to smart home environments allowing consumers to take advantage of its longer range and lower power for applications such as battery powered cameras, video baby monitors, and other smart home products,” said Phil Solis, research director at IDC. “Companies have been working on Wi-Fi HaLow chipsets for years and we expect shipments to break 10 million in 2022, with adoption expanding from industrial to include smart home, smart city, and retail markets.”

Member companies providing interoperability test bed devices that are among the first Wi-Fi CERTIFIED HaLow products include Methods2Business, Morse Micro, and Newracom.

Industry support for Wi-Fi CERTIFIED HaLow:

“Wi-Fi CERTIFIED HaLow is the best choice for sensor communication and video feeds in RF challenged environments, such as manufacturing floors, construction sites, and commercial buildings. Operating in the ISM sub-GHz band, Wi-Fi HaLow brings exciting new features and Wi-Fi Alliance certification is of key importance to the IoT marketplace. Wi-Fi HaLow delivers longer range (more than 1 kilometer), higher throughput, large scale station deployments due to grouping and scheduling, lower latency, and long battery lifetime. Additionally, as part of the Wi-Fi family, Wi-Fi HaLow capitalizes on existing Wi-Fi infrastructure and robust end-to-end security, with multicast, and broadcast capabilities that allows for field software upgradability.” – Michael “Mac” McNamara, CEO, Adapt-IP

“Methods2Business is proud to play an active role in the availability of Wi-Fi CERTIFIED HaLow. Our company is excited to be one of the Wi-Fi HaLow certification test bed providers. Wi-Fi Alliance is delivering great value to the industry, enabling us to develop one of the first certified, interoperable, Wi-Fi HaLow products. Our customers believe that Wi-Fi HaLow will play a substantial role in the revolution of Industrial IoT and IoT for the Smart Home. It will serve these rapidly emerging markets with its unique advantages of a longer range (more than a kilometer) Wi-Fi with ultra-low power consumption and high security standards.” – Marleen Boonen, CEO & Founder, Methods2Business

"The ground-breaking potential of extending the already transformative characteristics of Wi-Fi into the sub-1 GHz band is hard to overstate, and we applaud Wi-Fi Alliance’s leadership in unleashing a new era of long range, low power and high-capacity Wi-Fi HaLow experiences for consumers. As a leading Wi-Fi HaLow innovator, we have invested heavily in R&D to ensure the market is ready with SoCs and modules that deliver unmatched benefits unlike any Wi-Fi or LPWAN technology available today. The addition of sub-1 GHz Wi-Fi CERTIFIED HaLow to the Wi-Fi CERTIFIED portfolio will be a game changer for consumers and enterprises, from smart home, building automation, smart city, and industrial markets – and everything in between."
– Michael De Nil, co-founder and CEO, Morse Micro

“We are incredibly excited to witness Wi-Fi Alliance’s announcement of the Wi-Fi CERTIFIED HaLow program. Today marks a significant milestone for Newracom, Wi-Fi Alliance, and the industry as a whole. With long range, lower power consumption and massive deployment capabilities, Wi-Fi HaLow extends the inherent goodness of Wi-Fi to accelerate the next generation Internet of Things applications.”  – Zac Freeman, Vice President, Newracom

“Palma Ceia SemiDesign salutes Wi-Fi Alliance on the launch of the Wi-Fi CERTIFIED HaLow program. This launch represents years of work by members of Wi-Fi Alliance to achieve a truly testable and compliant standard. Wi-Fi HaLow will provide users with a unique combination of range, throughput, network density, and power efficiency with WPA3 security. Palma Ceia will deliver Wi-Fi HaLow solutions and network support services to consumer and industrial clients. We look forward to the positive impact Wi-Fi HaLow and the collection of Wi-Fi CERTIFIED HaLow products will have on the IoT market and the expanded user applications that will benefit from Wi-Fi HaLow’s outcome-based network deployments.” – Kevin Walsh, Vice President of Strategic Marketing, Palma Ceia SemiDesign

For more information, please visit our website and download our technology overview, program paper, and highlights sheet.

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 65,000 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.

Follow Wi-Fi Alliance:
wi-fi.org/beacon
wi-fi.org/signal
facebook.com/wificertified
twitter.com/wifialliance
linkedin.com/company/wi-fi-alliance
youtube.com/wifialliance

Media Contact:
Michelle Panico
Highwire PR for Wi-Fi Alliance
wi-fi@highwirepr.com

Wi-Fi Easy Connect™ and Wi-Fi EasyMesh™ evolve to drive superior home Wi-Fi experience

Austin, Texas – February 4, 2021 – Wi-Fi CERTIFIED Easy Connect™ and Wi-Fi CERTIFIED EasyMesh™ now deliver more secure, smart, and efficient Wi-Fi® home networks. New features available for Wi-Fi Easy Connect™ now enable zero touch, secure provisioning of devices onto home networks, while additions to Wi-Fi EasyMesh™ increase Wi-Fi network capacity, support more simultaneous services, and deliver end-to-end service prioritization. New advancements now available for each program deliver benefits to users and service providers, while home Wi-Fi networks supporting both Wi-Fi Easy Connect and Wi-Fi EasyMesh establish smarter networks that are interoperable, secure, easy to set up, flexible, and extend high quality Wi-Fi throughout the home.

“Today’s homes are built on Wi-Fi, and Wi-Fi CERTIFIED™ continually progresses to deliver more advanced Wi-Fi networks that meet the needs of increasingly diverse devices and services,” said Kevin Robinson, senior vice president of marketing, Wi-Fi Alliance. “By making it easier to set up and manage Wi-Fi networks, while still supporting strong security and ensuring consistent home coverage, Wi-Fi is helping to advance the connected home experience.”

Wi-Fi Easy Connect simplifies the process of adding Wi-Fi devices with limited or no display interface – such as smart doorbells, lightbulbs, or smoke detectors– to both home and enterprise Wi-Fi networks, while supporting advanced WPA3™ security. New features available for Wi-Fi Easy Connect enable simple and flexible network authentication and onboarding, and introduce two new onboarding and configuration methods: zero touch cloud-based technology or Near Field Communication (NFC) tag. Onboarding by scanning the quick response (QR) code is still available. The easy process allows devices to gain secure network access using the latest security protocols, and devices will remain configured when there is a change to network settings, including a change in SSID. Based on public-key cryptography, Wi-Fi Easy Connect provides the ability to strongly authenticate and manage individual devices on the network and enforce network security policies on an individual device basis.

Wi-Fi EasyMesh networks employ multiple access points working together to form a unified mesh network that provides smart, high-performance Wi-Fi coverage throughout the home. With support for Wi-Fi 6, Wi-Fi EasyMesh extends the latest generation of Wi-Fi throughout the home and delivers greater capacity, reduced latency, and advanced features to support more simultaneous services and applications. Wi-Fi EasyMesh supports configuration of traffic prioritization policies for improved experiences in low latency applications – such as ensuring real-time, interactive video display is not impacted by less time-sensitive applications. Wi-Fi EasyMesh provides enhanced diagnostics and metrics with full support for Wi-Fi Data Elements™, enabling service providers to more proactively identify and resolve Wi-Fi network issues. Wi-Fi EasyMesh can also leverage Wi-Fi Easy Connect for user-friendly onboarding of additional access points to further extend home network coverage where it is needed.

Wi-Fi Easy Connect and Wi-Fi EasyMesh reduce complexity of Wi-Fi home networks, improve security and network management capabilities, and drive a better experience for a variety of home Wi-Fi applications and services. For more information please visit: https://www.wi-fi.org/discover-wi-fi/wi-fi-easy-connect and https://www.wi-fi.org/discover-wi-fi/wi-fi-easymesh.

Industry support for Wi-Fi Easy Connect and Wi-Fi EasyMesh:

“Proliferation of Wi-Fi EasyMesh devices ensures interoperability for a multi-vendor Wi-Fi infrastructure at home. With our EQUIPE and CloudCheck product lines, we heavily invest in the future of mesh networking and are proud to contribute to Wi-Fi EasyMesh standards development in Wi-Fi Alliance.” – Tuncay Cil, Chief Strategy Officer, ASSIA

“This release of Wi-Fi EasyMesh and Wi-Fi Easy Connect focuses on securing the Connected Home experience, making it easy for end-users to connect their devices and self-install APs to improve their Wi-Fi coverage. CableLabs was happy to contribute to the development of these programs because they allow our members to proactively manage their networks using Wi-Fi Data Elements and provide a resilient in-home connectivity experience.” – Darshak Thakore, Principal Architect at CableLabs

“As one of the original contributors to the Wi-Fi Easy Connect and Wi-Fi EasyMesh specifications, CommScope fully supports the continued evolution of these programs to make it easy as possible for consumers to get the vital services they need for their digital lives from the Wi-Fi home. The goal of these two programs aligns with CommScope’s own goal of seamless onboarding of Wi-Fi devices in the home, as well as the ability to introduce multi-vendor meshing access points into the home ecosystem for both consumer retail investment and service provider driven solutions.” – Charles Cheevers, CTO, Home Networks, CommScope

“As one of the companies on multiple Wi-Fi EasyMesh test beds, MediaTek continues to offer support and technical expertise to Wi-Fi Alliance as it advances industry Wi-Fi standards. MediaTek’s chipsets have a long history of supporting Wi-Fi EasyMesh capabilities. Our close cooperation with Wi-Fi Alliance strengthens MediaTek’s position as a distinguished provider of Wi-Fi solutions, delivering the best connected experiences for everyone.” – Alan Hsu, Corporate Vice President at MediaTek

“Standards-based technologies for simply and securely on-boarding devices, while supporting peak performance across today's popular mesh-style networks, are imperative given today's massive acceleration in Wi-Fi demand. Qualcomm Technologies has long been committed to driving seamless and immersive experiences, with a pioneering history of advancing mesh networking and solving complex provisioning challenges, and we look forward to continued support of Wi-Fi Easy Connect and Wi-Fi EasyMesh across our Wi-Fi product portfolio." – Rahul Patel, senior vice president and general manager, Connectivity and Networking, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc.

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 65,000 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.

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Media Contact:
Stephanie Burke
Highwire PR for Wi-Fi Alliance
wi-fi@highwirepr.com