By Claus Hetting, WiFi NOW CEO & Chairman
Spectrum (Charter) introduces whole-home Wi-Fi 7 extenders
Spectrum’s new tri-band multi-gigabit Wi-Fi 7 extenders launched this week provide customers with “fast, secure and consistent WiFi coverage for every corner of their home or business,” Spectrum said in a press release here. The new extenders create a single, unified network across the home for reliable, uninterrupted Wi-Fi service and they work seamlessly with Spectrum’s WiFi NOW Award-winning Wi-Fi 7 routers, delivering an additional 2,000 square feet of Wi-Fi coverage.
Spectrum says they are designed to cover areas that are typically challenging, such as basements, garages, and outdoors, providing connectivity for smart doorbells and security cameras, for example. The extenders are managed via the existing Spectrum app and available for the remarkably low cost of US$5 per month per extender. As far as we know, the only other two major service providers in the US offering Wi-Fi 7 extenders are Frontier (using eero mesh) and AT&T.
Zyxel Networks boosts management platform capabilities to serve MSPs better
Zyxel Networks’ Nebula Cloud-based management platform has long since been an effective tool for MSPs to manage Wi-Fi and other network services across multiple tenant locations – and now the company is adding significant enhancements. New features include replication of site configurations, cutting setup times from hours to minutes, an extended dashboard, and additional security features.
“Thousands of MSP partners across EMEA are using Nebula as the central pillar of their managed services value proposition and as they grow and develop, being able to do more with the same resources is the key challenge they face. The enhanced capabilities of Nebula will enable MSPs to optimise efficiency, take on more opportunities, and deliver higher levels of service,” says Kevin Drinkall, Senior Director, Marketing and GTM Strategy EMEA, Zyxel Networks. Read more here.
RUCKUS reinvents itself again – and becomes acquisition target for Extreme, rumour has it
The trials and tribulations of RUCKUS Networks continue – but this time, with a decidedly (for now) positive outcome. The hospitality Wi-Fi expert solution provider has finally broken free of its parent company’s debt shackles after CommScope managed to sell its cable unit to Amphenol earlier this month. What remains of the old CommScope will rebrand itself as Vistance, which then becomes the parent company of two business units: RUCKUS Networks and Aurora Networks, a coax and fibre network solution provider. Confused? That’s not even half the story.
The rumour now circulating is that Extreme Networks is mulling over a US$1 billion bid for RUCKUS. The story originates from this recent article by Bloomberg (although Bloomberg does not disclose its sources) and has since been doing the rounds in the media. The purchase would arguably be a big financial mouthful for Extreme Networks, which is currently valued at around US$2.1 billion, but it would also no doubt strengthen Extreme Networks’ product portfolio as well as its market share in certain RUCKUS strongholds, including hospitality, service provider, and education.
The acquisition would be much in line with the industry’s current consolidation trend, which recently saw the acquisition of Juniper by HPE.
NXP and Origin AI team up for Wi-Fi sensing
Wi-Fi sensing leader Origin AI is teaming up with IoT chipset maker NXP in order to integrate Wi-Fi sensing capabilities into NXP applications and tri-radio chipsets, Origin says in this press release. “This endeavour fast-tracks the deployment of intelligent motion sensing into smart home devices, opening the door for powerful new services across home automation, security and energy management,” the company says. Devices such as smart plugs, routers, and lighting products can now be equipped with Origin’s motion sensing technology.
China’s Espressif releases its first Wi-Fi 6E SoC
Espressif – a leader in wireless IoT chipsets – has released its first Wi-Fi 6E SoC aimed at the market for ‘high performance wireless connectivity’, the company says in a press release here. “ESP32-E22 integrates tri-band Wi-Fi 6E and dual-mode Bluetooth into a single subsystem, offloading the entire networking stack and enabling host processors to focus exclusively on application logic,” Espressif says.
Tri-band Wi-Fi chipsets specifically designed for IoT have thus far been relatively uncommon as the vast majority IoT applications are low power and usually adequately served by previous Wi-Fi generations, even all the way back to Wi-Fi 4. The release means that Espressif may be encroaching a little on the positioning of for example Synaptics, although AI at the edge does not appear to be part of the company’s expressed strategy at the moment.
/Claus.
