5G WiFi Wave 2 solutions target cloud WLAN markets

With the BCM43465, the company becomes the only vendor able to support 2.2Gb/s and four concurrent MU-MIMO devices, enabling the highest density of client support for the enterprise market. MU-MIMO combined with 160MHz enables devices to fully utilise available bandwidth to deliver more than two times the performance.

The chips are further enhanced by NitroQAM technology, Broadcom's 1024-QAM modulation scheme, which gives up to a 25% throughput boost over 802.11ac's 256-QAM. In addition, by using a powerful DSP based architecture, the company is the first silicon vendor able to perform advanced spectrum capture, analysis and classification right on the chip without impacting performance. Broadcom's Advanced Spectrum Capture Engine allows the chips to identify non-WiFi interference and adjust accordingly, delivering improved reliability and quality.

"We're leaving no stone unturned in our mission to drive the transition to 802.11ac across all segments and markets," said Ed Redmond, Vice President & General Manager, Compute and Connectivity, Broadcom. "We intend to continue doing so by offering differentiated, comprehensive solutions that assure our OEMs have future-proof solutions that provide end users the quality, reliability and capacity they increasingly demand across high-density applications."

"Not only will Broadcom's fully-featured Wave 2 solutions allow our customers to reap the benefits of MU-MIMO technology, these solutions also provide immediate capacity, coverage and performance enhancements, especially in high-density enterprise environments where optimising WiFi experience is essential," commented Sanjay Kumar, Senior Director, Product Management, Aerohive Networks.

The portfolio also includes the BCM47452, claimed to be the industry's lowest-power, smallest and most affordable SoC. The affordability of this chip will help enable all tiers of the enterprise market to transition to 802.11ac. The chip is the first to integrate the two radios, power amplifiers, as well as a CPU on a single device. Its real simultaneous dual-band functionality lets OEMs support 2.4 and 5GHz radio operation concurrently in a single device.

"The BCM47452 will enable Zebra to deliver an entire family of solutions that unleash the optimal WiFi performance for all tiers of enterprise access points and bring the powerful benefits of 802.11ac technology to the masses," said Sanjoy Dey, Director of Product Management, Wireless LAN, Zebra Technologies.