Qualcomm Reveals Service Defined Wi-Fi Initiative And Flexible 10G Fiber Gateway Platform

Qualcomm recently held an event at which the company discussed numerous Wi-Fi 7 updates and fresh hardware and software innovations. Front and center was a new 10G Fiber Wi-Fi 7 Gateway Platform and an array of software and tools that will enable service providers to usher in what Qualcomm is calling Service Defined Wi-Fi.

The Qualcomm 10G Fiber Gateway Platform will enable 10Gbps broadband connections from leading internet service providers to homes and small businesses, while simultaneously providing multi-Gigabit Wi-Fi 7 connectivity as well. It features 10G Passive Optical Network (PON) technology with multi-Gigabit Wi-Fi 7 networking in a single device, to provide high-speed, low-latency broadband connectivity.

Qualcomm Enabled Multi-Gig Fiber & Wi-Fi 7

“Qualcomm Technologies has positioned itself to lead a revolution in connectivity,” said Rahul Patel, senior vice president and general manager, connectivity, broadband and networking. “By adding 10G Fiber to our technology portfolio, along with 5G and Wi-Fi 7, we now offer a compelling mix of solutions to help service providers drive revenue growth, service innovations, and deliver more immersive, and engaged subscriber experiences.”

For those unfamiliar, Wi-Fi 7 will offer a myriad of enhancements over previous-gen standards that will increase performance, effective range, stability and reliability. For example, Wi-Fi 7 can use an additional 6GHz channel with 320 MHz channel bandwidth, which enables additional capacity (Wi-Fi 6E is 160MHz). Qualcomm’s Wi-Fi 7 platform will also offer Multi Link Operation, which allows data to be sent over multiple bands simultaneously on a single device to maximize bandwidth and minimize latency. And the addition of 4K QAM increases peak data transmission performance by up to 20%. Wi-Fi 7 will also feature more flexible wireless channel utilization, to minimize the use of channels with higher interference.

Of course, Qualcomm already has a wireless networking platform ready to take advantage of Wi-Fi 7’s enhancements — the Qualcomm FastConnect 7800. Announced last year, FastConnect 7800 is a 14nm Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity system, which can deliver Wi-Fi speeds up to 5.8Gbps, with low latency (approximately 2 ms), and premium Bluetooth audio.

Qualcomm’s Service Defined Wi-Fi

Qualcomm’s vision further comes into play when it’s time to actually leverage all of this high-speed wireless network technology in ever-changing environments, with numerous devices and applications to contend with. Qualcomm’s Service Defined Wi-Fi is designed to provide key telemetry and insight into connected devices on a network, and allow service providers to tailor QoS and network parameters to provide an optimal user experience. An agent on the customer’s gateway can be provisioned remotely by the ISP, but the gateway actually performs classifications, prioritizations, and scheduling locally, and the software stack is fully programmable with open APIs on a cloud native framework.

Although Wi-Fi 7 is still a burgeoning technology, and Qualcomm’s 10G Fiber Gateway Platform and Service Defined Wi-Fi technology aren’t scheduled to be commercially available until next summer, multiple partners have already committed to featuring the innovations. In the UK, EE has partnered with Qualcomm and will be offering its home broadband customers access to upcoming Wi-Fi 7 devices next year. Here in the US, Spectrum and Qualcomm made a similar announcement. The two companies will be collaborating to bring advanced Wi-Fi 7 gateways and routers with 10Gbps capabilities to Spectrum’s residential and small / medium-sized business customers in 2024.