By Claus Hetting, Wi-Fi NOW CEO & Chairman
Wi-Fi equipment maker NETGEAR posts impressive 3Q2020 result
While some business are facing the horror of being razed to the ground by lockdowns and restrictions, parts of the tech industry are thriving as a result of a shift in behaviour. Case in point: NETGEAR. The San Jose-based Wi-Fi networking equipment maker posted a remarkable 42% growth in net revenue year-on-year for this year’s third quarter.
The net revenue for the quarter was US$ 378.1M, the press release says. “As the pandemic persists, it is clear that families are adapting their lives to accommodate the need to pursue more of their daily activities virtually from home,” says Patrick Lo, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of NETGEAR. NETGEAR has been one of the first retail Wi-Fi networking vendors to include Wi-Fi 6-capable routers and mesh units into their product portfolio.
Istanbul: One of the world’s biggest muni Wi-Fi networks wins smart cities award
If you think muni Wi-Fi is dead then think again: Without making much of a fuss about it the city of Istanbul, Turkey has been operating an 8,000-AP city-wide public Wi-Fi network serving 16 million Turkish citizens and no less than 10 million visitors, says Aptilo Networks in their press release from this week. The project won the Telecoms World Smart Cities award this week. The network employs Aptilo service management infrastructure to produce “a Wi-Fi network that looks and behaves like a large operator network,” says Istanbul City CIO, Erol Özgüner.
Other good examples of large muni networks still going strong can be found in Barcelona, Spain and Seoul, Korea. It is likely that new technology (Wi-Fi 6) and huge swaths on new spectrum (6 GHz) will drive a resurgence of muni Wi-Fi networks in coming years.
Comcast teams up with Aruba/HPE for ‘Comcast Business Teleworker VPN’
Wi-Fi and enterprise networking gear vendor Aruba/HPE and US cable giant Comcast are teaming up to deliver secure enterprise connectivity into the home, Comcast says in a press release of October 19. “The new solution is specifically engineered to help enterprises provide their rapidly expanding remote workforces with the same secure, reliable high-performance connection to their corporate network that they have when physically in their office,” Comcast says.
The service will be powered by Aruba’s AI-capable ‘Edge Service Platform’ or ESP (and perhaps also by Aruba’s well known Wi-Fi APs although official release don’t specify this).
/Claus.
