Enterprise networking {hardware} vendor EnGenuis will launch one of many first Wi-Fi 7-enabled routers for enterprise use, the corporate introduced this week.
The ECW536 makes use of the Qualcomm Networking Professional 1220 chipset, and contains a 4x4x4 antenna configuration. It’s bought two 10Gb ethernet ports, and boasts a number of safety enhancements, together with business-class encryption protocols, RADIUS and remoted visitor entry.
The primary draw, nonetheless, is Wi-Fi 7 connectivity. Wi-Fi 7, also called 802.11be, is the newest and best Wi-Fi specification, though official certification from the IEEE isn’t anticipated to begin till the second half of 2024. The important thing upgrades in Wi-Fi 7 embrace wider channels (as much as 320MHz), 4K quadrature amplitude modulation slightly than 1K, and muiltilink operation, which makes use of a number of radio bands on the similar time to serve one connection. All that provides as much as a considerably elevated theoretical throughput peak, at 46Gbps.
The EXW536 solely guarantees 18.6Gbps, nonetheless, aggregated throughout 2.4GHz, 5GHz, and 6Ghz bands, and the decreased marketed pace is probably going a operate of real-world limitations on the expertise. The router can also be designed to be cloud-managed via EnGenius’ cloud platform, enabling simpler administration and streamlined provisioning and updating.
In response to Brandon Butler, analysis supervisor for enterprise networks at IDC, the arrival of an enterprise Wi-Fi 7 router isn’t fully sudden at this level, as the buyer market has already seen a number of units hit the cabinets. Nonetheless, that doesn’t imply that Wi-Fi 7 is about to grow to be the default normal in a single day.
“Between now and [certification], we’ll proceed to see prefinal normal entry factors, gateways and routers, in addition to some shopper units supporting Wi-Fi 7,” he stated. “However we don’t count on to see important adoption of Wi-Fi 7 amongst companies till no less than mid-2024, and maybe longer.”
The actual progress within the Wi-Fi marketplace for the instant future is prone to be Wi-Fi 6E, which was the primary normal to utilize the 6GHz band for wider channels and consequently larger throughput, however even that’s solely beginning to take maintain.
“New Wi-Fi requirements take a very long time to realize materials traction in a mature market like WLAN,” Butler stated. “For instance, within the first quarter of 2023, within the enterprise WLAN dependent entry level market, about 10% of market revenues have been for Wi-Fi 6E, whereas greater than 78% of market revenues have been nonetheless for Wi-Fi 6.”
EnGenius’ ECW536 might be out there on the market early within the fourth quarter, the corporate stated. EnGenius’ PR representatives declined to supply pricing data.
Copyright © 2023 IDG Communications, Inc.
