As our dependence on wireless technology evolves, next-generation Wi-Fi 6 arrives to provide better multi-user, multi-device wireless connectivity.
There’s no denying that the internet in a modern world is essential to society’s most basic needs. The health of our infrastructures, our networks of communication, our ability to provide services and even the functioning of our everyday needs require uninterrupted and secure access to the internet. In recent decades, technology has moved the evolution of human civilisation towards the digital and in the past three years, that shift has accelerated exponentially. Who could have foreseen the long-term impact of COVID-19 on the way we communicate, stay connected, and, most relevantly, work?
According to the Society for Human Resource Management, remote working by employees rocketed from 2% prior to the pandemic, to 70%. Organisations were able to respond to the continued demands of business during this time with new ways of working due in large part to wireless technology. It enabled businesses to continue operational functionality with employees working remotely. And since then, this shift from office-based to hybrid working has indicated a more permanent change. According to the study, 87% of organisations believe that the opportunities for innovation and agility offered by advanced wireless capabilities can be a competitive advantage.
And we know from personal experience how reliant we are as individuals on reliable wireless performance, whether we are talking to friends and family, shopping, streaming content, navigating cars, just looking for information, or even running our home appliances. Every day, we are connecting wirelessly from mobile devices, laptops, computers, watches, multi-media devices, and household appliances, practically every kind of technology we now use requires wireless functionality.
This means that there are increasingly more devices making demands on bandwidth than ever before and the need for high-performing, secure wireless technology is now greater than it’s ever been. This is where Wi-Fi 6 shows its strength, making a huge leap towards better, not just faster wireless connectivity.
What is Wi-Fi 6?
WiFi 6 is the next generation standard in WiFi technology.It is also known as “AX WiFi" or "802.11ax WiFi” and is the successor to 802.11ac Wave 2, or Wi-Fi 5.
WiFi 6 was originally built in response to the growing number of devices in the world with the goal of relieving network congestion, increasing speed and improving efficiency.
In addition, Wi-Fi 6 benefits include :
- reduced latency by introducing multi-user supported OFDMA vs Wi-Fi 5’s single-user OFDM
- advanced WPA3 security features for more robust authentication
- improved battery life by allowing devices to decide how often to send or receive data with Target Wake Time (TWT)
- more efficient multiple upload/download speeds with multi-user, multiple input, multiple output (or MU-MIMO).
Each of these benefits either improves performance or security and together they provide powerful opportunities for any organisation to improve its competitive edge.
SonicWave 641 and SonicWave 681
Powered by Wi-Fi 6 technology, the new SonicWave 600 series wireless access points, coupled with Wireless Network Manager (WNM) 4.0, enable organizations to automatically secure wireless traffic while boosting performance and simplifying connectivity.