By Claus Hetting, WiFi NOW CEO & Chairman
For the first time in six years the Wi-Fi World Congress (WiFi NOW) is back in the heart of the Wi-Fi industry – more specifically, we’re going to the iconic Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California, on April 28-30. So what are the big themes and why should you pay us any attention, you ask? That is a good and relevant question. Here’s our provisional list – with more to come.
Wi-Fi for the home: QoE and AI – everywhere
Home Wi-Fi QoE management is gradually becoming table stakes for vendors – but it is still a hot topic, especially as new AI tools – such as AI at the edge – come into play. How can CSPs and the Wi-Fi industry benefit and what’s next? What new services can be created and monetized? We’ll get you the answers. Among our keynote speakers in this space we’re delighted to welcome Aprecomm, Airties and Righ – and not least Qualcomm and MediaTek.
Defragmenting the massive Wi-Fi IoT opportunity
The stars are aligning for a huge surge in Wi-Fi IoT with loads of excellent technology, including ultra-low-power chipsets and long-range Wi-Fi HaLow. Perhaps the two biggest challenges are scale and defragmentation. Meanwhile opportunities continue to expand in myriads of use cases. We’ll dig into the big picture and the details in Mountain View. WWC Mt View is your chance to meet Wi-Fi HaLow leaders Morse Micro and Newracom as well as Silicon Labs, Synaptics, and more.
If you are interested in a starring role you need to contact us NOW. We’re already getting loads of requests so early signup for speaking, exhibition spaces, and sponsored workshops (all marketed by us) is imperative. Contact me here.
Open source platforms & communities for Wi-Fi CPEs abound – can they deliver on their promises?
RDK, Prpl, OpenWRT, OpenWiFi – just a some of the initiatives and organisations relying on open source platforms to deliver the Wi-Fi that everyone wants. We’ll be bringing the world of open source Wi-Fi to the WWC to discover new opportunities & challenges. This year we’ve invited RDK and on the enterprise side we’re conducting the OpenWiFi Global Summit on April 30.
Wi-Fi 7 ushers in a new generation of client devices
Wi-Fi 7 is promising gigabit speeds in more locations in the home and enterprise and is transforming the capabilities of AR, VR, and wearables. We’ll get the inside story on how the connected experience is changing from Intel, Meta, and Qualcomm.
Showcasing real-world Wi-Fi 7 deployments & the tools to optimise them
Charter is leading the pack when it comes to launching Wi-Fi 7 gateways in the US – and they even won a WiFi NOW Award last year. So is Wi-Fi 7 delivering on its promise? To extract maximum value from deployments this is chance for you to meet Oberon, Sidos, and RouteThis – they each have important contributions to make towards better Wi-Fi everywhere. We’ll also get full update from hospitality and MDU leaders WorldVue and Pavlov Media.
Revolutionising RF components
There’s a quiet Wi-Fi revolution going on – and it has to do with RF components: We need better components and some serious innovation to take full advantage of all bands as well as to capitalise on all the capabilities of the new standards. Thankfully, QuantalRF, Qorvo, and Adant are taking this challenge seriously and we’ll have them on hand for all the details.
Indoor mobile coverage with Wi-Fi and ‘offload’
The stars are also aligning to finally replace expensive and inflexible indoor cellular technology (DAS, small cells) with fast, low cost, ubiquitous enterprise Wi-Fi. How are we doing it? With Passpoint – and with some great new companies shifting the paradigm. Now is the time for autoconnect Wi-Fi everywhere at all indoor venues across the US and across the planet. We’ll be discussing all of this with American Bandwidth, Cisco, Juniper/Mist, Arista, and not least HPE Aruba Networks.
The many faces of Wi-Fi monetization: Ads, analytics, and more
Wi-Fi is still scare in many locations and someone has to pay – which is why Wi-Fi monetization is still an important topic. Financing Wi-Fi with ad tech and analytics with GoZone WiFi and effective, affordable infrastructure from ALTA Labs is a popular option. Meet the Wi-Fi monetization leaders in Mountain View.
Can Web3/blockchain disrupt the connectivity industry?
Web3-based initiatives such as Helium & others have moved from curiosities to viable propositions – but can they go mass market? As the crypto industry nears the top of its fourth cycle, Web3-based networking is back in vogue and this time it’s serious. We’ll have the experts on hand for a full intro and analysis on Web3 for Wi-Fi. Meet decentralised networking leader Nova Labs in Mountain View.
A new networking paradigm with Campus NaaS
A handful of innovative enterprise networking startups are attacking the markets with a new approach: Campus NaaS. And they are growing – fast. NaaS is still relatively new so we’re digging into what it is and why it is potentially disruptive in an age where IT resources are becoming scarce. Campus NaaS is also a remarkable source of service innovation from the likes of Join Digital and Meter.
Testing is more critical than ever
Whether you’re developing APs, client devices, or simply want to deliver the best Wi-Fi user experience, testing is becoming business critical as standards and requirements expand. We’re fortunate in that we’re bringing all of Rohde & Schwarz, LitePoint, and Alethea to Mountain View. Each in their own way they’re contributing hugely to development of high-performance Wi-Fi.
Our favourite startups & innovators in Wi-Fi
Entrepreneurs make the world go around – and we want to support them as much as we can, especially those projects that are pushing the envelope for what’s possible with Wi-Fi. Airvine is one such. And we’ve got a few surprises up our sleeve that we’ll disclose later. So stay tuned!
Non-connectivity Wi-Fi use cases: Sensing, gestures, ambient power
With (or without) the aid of AI, non-connectivity use cases for Wi-Fi are emerging. Wi-Fi sensing has been around for some years but it’s evolving fast and things like gesture controls and breathing detection could be in the pipeline soon. Get the inside track on what’s new in sensing from industry leader Origin AI.
… and much more. Make sure you get your ticket here while spaces last. See you in Mountain View!
/Claus.
