• September 5, 2019

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Qualcomm’s Wi-Fi 6 Day featured discussions held by several of the chip manufacturer’s critical partners and customers, and each shared their thoughts on the current Wi-Fi ecosystem. Following the event, Ruckus Networks’ Bart Giordano, SVP, Wireless Solutions, shared his thoughts with RCR Wireless News on the future of Wi-Fi.

As Ruckus Networks has been acquired by CommScope last November, the company has an extensive portfolio when it comes to deploying Wi-Fi in extremely challenging venues such as stadiums and arenas that have intense capacity requirements. According to Giordano, “Over the last several years, the requirements in that type of venue have changed precipitously. Wi-Fi used to be a desirable amenity, but it is expected… and it impacts the impression that guests and users have on that venue.”

Giordano estimates that the percentage of people who want to connect to a large venue’s network has increased from 10% to 50% within the last few years. “Even as more devices are coming to the network and the use case of those devices is becoming more taxing on the network, we are able to maintain a consistent and richer user experience [with Wi-Fi 6].”

The benefit of CommScope’s acquisition of Ruckus is highlighted by CommScope’s structured cabling, which when combined with Ruckus’ multi-gigabit switching and Wi-Fi technology, delivers a complete end-to-end network solution. “This is the first time in my career that a technology transition in the Wi-Fi space is precipitating the technology transition not only to the access layer for switching, but it also demands a refresh of the physical infrastructure. Now, when we go into a venue, we have a whole ecosystem to offer. That’s the thesis behind the acquisition,” Giordano said.

In addition, he believes Wi-Fi 6 will not only enable IoT devices to operate with greater efficiency, but that the technology will also cause a new wave of IoT devices to emerge.

The last point Giordano discussed in Wi-Fi’s development was new spectrum. The FCC is making moves to allocate more spectrum for Wi-Fi in the 6 GHz band, which many believe could lead to drastic changes in the industry. “We’ve been constrained by the fact that we have been leveraging 2.4 and 5 GHz and maintaining backward capability with very inefficient and early Wi-Fi protocols. But when you go to the new spectrum, you will leave all that baggage behind, and I think we’ll see some radical changes in the types of applications and the reliability and the robustness of the connected experience because we’ll have clean, fresh spectrum to operate in,” he said. “That will take us through the next four or five years, and then we’ll be talking about the next thing.”

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References:

Sbeglia, C. (2019, August 29). With Ruckus in the fold, CommScope looks to Wi-Fi 6 future. Retrieved from rcrwireless.com/20190829/network-infrastructure/wi-fi/ruckus-commscope-wi-fi-6