Ruckus Networks - R750 is first verified WiFi 6 AP

The Wi-Fi Alliance has officially adopted WLAN 6, also known as 802.11ax, and has begun certifying devices that meet the new standard. The certification programme brings new features and capabilities that enable much higher overall WLAN network performance in challenging environments with many connected devices such as stadiums, airports and industrial parks. As adoption of the latest generation WLAN increases, product vendors and service providers can be confident that WLAN 6 will distinguish products and networks that meet the highest standards for security and interoperability. WLAN 6 offers significant capacity, performance and latency improvements across the WLAN ecosystem, while ensuring that products from all vendors work well together to deliver greater innovation and capability.

WLAN 6 supports a wide range of devices and applications, from those requiring peak performance in demanding enterprise environments to low-power, low-latency devices in smart homes or industrial IoT scenarios. WLAN 6 offers nearly four times the capacity of WLAN 5 and is an evolutionary step forward in WLAN 6's ability to deliver high-performance infrastructure and optimised connectivity to all devices on a network simultaneously - resulting in tangible improvements in densely networked WLAN environments. WLAN 6 provides critical connectivity that supports cellular networks and leverages high speeds, low latency, energy efficiency, increased capacity and improved coverage to deliver many advanced 5G services.

"WLAN 6 ushers in a new era of WLAN, building on the core features of WLAN to deliver better performance in any environment for users, more network capacity for service providers to improve coverage for their customers, and new opportunities for advanced applications," said Edgar Figueroa, president and CEO, Wi-Fi Alliance. "WLAN 6 will bring improvements in connectivity, including in high-density locations and IoT environments."

WLAN 6 offers advanced security protocols and requires the latest generation of WLAN security, WPA3. WLAN 6's advanced features include:

• Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA): effective channel division to increase network efficiency and lower latency for uplink and downlink traffic in busy environments.
• Multi-User Multiple Input Multiple Output (MU-MIMO): Enables more downlink data to be transmitted simultaneously and allows an access point to transmit data to a larger number of devices at the same time.
• 160 MHz Channels: Increases bandwidth to deliver more power with low latency.
• Target Wake Time (TWT): Significantly improves the battery life of WLAN devices, such as Internet of Things (IoT) devices.
• 1024 Quadrature Amplitude Modulation Mode (1024-QAM): increases throughput in WLAN devices by encoding more data in the same amount of spectrum.
• Transmit beamforming: enables higher data rates at a given range, resulting in greater network capacity.

"WLAN 6 brings more speed and efficiency to WLAN networks, expanding its role as a critical communications platform," said Phil Solis, research director at IDC. "WLAN 6 delivers a high-quality experience for all WLAN use cases, further driving the WLAN market and ensuring WLAN maintains its strong position as the connectivity landscape evolves."

WLAN 6 extends WLAN's core competencies, including affordable performance, efficient operation, commitment to security, ease of use, ownership and long-term compatibility, while supporting a more reliable user experience in areas of high user demand. WLAN 6 leverages the global ubiquity of WLAN to more efficiently connect users in more environments, support growing data demands and expand advanced use cases such as augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR), streaming of high-definition content, real-time monitoring and mission-critical applications. As more spectrum is made available for WLAN, WLAN 6 will only deliver more global WLAN innovation and economic contributions.

"Spectrum-based services have already changed the world and unlocked immeasurable economic potential and benefits for consumers. As we enter a new chapter in interconnectivity with the transition to next-generation broadband networks, WLAN 6 will play a critical role in improving businesses and the lives of everyday Americans," said Congresswoman Doris Matsui (CA-06), Vice Chair of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Communications and Technology and Co-Chair of the Congressional Spectrum Caucus. "The capacity and power of WLAN 6 will enable new IoT and high-density applications that will help us redesign and build the infrastructure of the future. I look forward to working with WLAN."

Networking equipment supplier Ruckus also has the first Wifi 6 certified access point on the market, the Ruckus R750. This means that you can already provide a WLAN today that can meet the requirements of the future.
Other manufacturers will also be able to provide certified devices in the near future.

We are at your disposal if you are planning to modernise an existing WLAN or to create a WLAN network from scratch. Not only do we offer WLAN planning, but we can also provide the appropriate devices and licences, and offer one-stop technical support during the initial configuration.

If you are interested, please feel free to contact us by phone, email or our contact form.