Wi-Fi Alliance Introduces Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 7 – Will Sharing Video Content Become Easier?

Industry News

by Jose PradaJanuary 15^th, 2024

Wi-Fi Alliance, the global network of companies behind our beloved Wi-Fi, has introduced Wi-Fi Certified 7, another step toward better performance and connectivity. Those of us in the video industry could take advantage of reduced time when uploading, downloading, or sharing our work. Let’s take a look at Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 7.

I’m sure that if your team works remotely and you have to deal with vast amounts of footage, you have had to send proxies instead of the original files. Transferring huge files is fine if computers are connected to the network, but we typically need to work wirelessly from a laptop. Well, it looks like sooner or later that won’t be a problem because, although our video files are getting bigger, the race for speed and connectivity in the Wi-Fi world seems to grow even faster than our files.

Better efficiency in a world of demanding technology

Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 7 boosts Wi-Fi performance and connectivity over a variety of environments. Based on IEEE 802.11be technology, Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 7 enhances Wi-Fi performance in the 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, and 6 GHz bands. Technology improves, and it demands more powerful connectivity every day. Innovations like AR/VR/XR, immersive 3D training or electronic gaming will unlock their potential thanks to this latest Wi-Fi update, resulting from the collaboration within the Wi-Fi alliance. 

Some key benefits of Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 7 are higher throughput, improved support for deterministic latency, better efficiency even in dense networks, less power consumption, and more reliability.

The good news is that Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 7 will immediately benefit everyday users, with more than 233 million new devices expected in 2024 and 2.1 billion devices by 2028. The most common devices, like smartphones, PCs, tablets, etc., will be the first to implement the improvement, ensuring an immediate practical benefit for all of us. The next environments to benefit from this will be customer premises equipment (CPE), and augmented and virtual reality equipment (AR/VR).

Some of the first Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 7 devices will come from companies like Broadcom, CommScope, RUCKUS Networks, Intel, MaxLinear, MediaTek, and Qualcomm. 

Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 7’s advanced features

• 320 MHz channels: available in countries that make the 6 GHz band available to Wi-Fi, ultra-wide channels double today’s widest channel size to facilitate multi-gigabit device speeds and high throughput.
• Multi-Link Operation (MLO): allows devices to transmit and receive data simultaneously over multiple links for increased throughput, reduced latency, and improved reliability.
• 4K QAM: achieves 20% higher transmission rates than 1024 QAM. 
• 512 Compressed block-ack: improves efficiency and reduces overhead.
• Multiple RUs to a single STA: improves flexibility for spectrum resource scheduling to enhance spectrum efficiency.
• Triggered Uplink Access: optimizes Wi-Fi 6 defined triggered uplink access to accommodate latency-sensitive streams and satisfy QoS requirements.
• Emergency Preparedness Communication Services (EPCS): provides users with a seamless National Security & Emergency Preparedness (NSEP) service experience while maintaining the priority and quality of service in Wi-Fi access networks.

The introduction of Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 7 marks the emergence of the latest generation of Wi-Fi and will be an accelerant to mass adoption of Wi-Fi 7. This certification underscores our relentless commitment to delivering cutting-edge technology that redefines the way users experience Wi-Fi, providing faster speeds, improved efficiency, and increased reliability, which expand the horizons of what is possible through Wi-Fi.  

Kevin Robinson, president and CEO, Wi-Fi Alliance

Some final thoughts

‘Mobility’ and ‘big transfers’ are usually clashing terms for those working with big-size video. The need for stable and fast networks has been constant, especially where these features were achievable if technology allowed it. Who knows? Maybe this Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 7 will take us closer to these needs, and we will be able not only to edit our projects from an airport or a cafe but also to upload, download, and share our videos easily. Let’s see how Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 7 performs in the real world. 

For more information, please visit the Wi-Fi Alliance website.

What do you think about the Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 7 announcement? Will your workflow benefit from its features? Let us know in the comments below!