About the Author
Chuck Lukaszewski是一家惠普阿鲁巴副总裁兼首席无线技术专家，是一家惠普·霍尔特Packard企业公司。他的职责包括在未来的无线产品周围驾驶路线图和愿景......
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在过去的六周左右，我已经从客户，媒体和分析师身上进行了持续的问题，关于最近的报告，企业IT部门正在跳过Wi-Fi 6e，而是计划“等待”甚至“预购”Wi-fi 7产品。所引用的主要原因是正在开展影响全球经济的持续供应链挑战，特别是关于供应Wi-Fi 6e芯片组的索赔。没有什么能进一步从真相中进一步，我想花一点时间直接设置录制。
阿鲁巴看到了对我们的Wi-Fi 6e产品的前所未有的需求。我们认为，这将是企业Wi-Fi历史上最长的产品升级之一。阿鲁巴刚刚介绍了几个计划的6E平台的第二个，我们已经将6E产品装运到了超过10个国家，每周增加更多国家。Aruba一直如此向前倾向于提供6E产品的原因是6 GHz频段提供的令人难以置信的新能力 - 高达1,200 MHz的额外频谱 - 这使企业能够最终确定更广泛的Wi-Fi通道带宽和/或实现多层设计[1]。Wi-Fi 6e现在将此清洁频谱与世界各地的组织和个人带来好处。
The supply chain for Wi-Fi 6E is strong and is accommodating the growing demand. According to Chris Depuy, technology analyst with the 650 Group, “Leading Enterprise WLAN companies began placing orders for Wi-Fi 6E chips over a year ago and they are taking shipments of those chips today此外，6e占4QCY21中运送的企业接入点的单位数百分比。今天，没有可用的Wi-Fi芯片。我们预计Wi-Fi 7接入点出货量变得有意义，Wi-Fi 6e将在所有接入点的四分之一出厂时显着代表。“
Wi-Fi 7 still has a very long way to go in the standards development process。For example, IEEE’s public timeline for the 802.11be standard which will be the basis of this new generation, calls for final ratification no earlier than March of 2024 [2]. The Wi-Fi Alliance does not announce public timeframes for new standards under development, but various media reports are consistent with the IEEE timeframe [3], [4].
In addition, it is unclear at this time whether Wi-Fi 7 will provide any meaningful improvement beyond the consumer market.The “hero” features targeted for Wi-Fi 7 do not provide nearly the quantum leap in performance that Wi-Fi 6E does relative to prior generations.例如,320米Hz “ultrawide” channels will only be available in about 15 countries as of this writing. And the much-hyped new “4096 QAM” data rates require such a high signal-to-noise (SNR) that they are only attainable within a few feet of an AP. Wi-Fi 7 will permit up to 16 spatial streams; however, the antenna arrays required will be so large and the Power over Ethernet (PoE) requirements so high that it is very unlikely such a configuration will ever be built for an enterprise buyer where 30- or 60-watt PoE dominates the access layer. Enterprise buyers are very sophisticated and understand that virtually all of the attainable performance gain from Wi-Fi 7 is available right now in 6E products, so there is no need to wait.
Aruba does not expect to see enterprise Wi-Fi 7 products until 2024 at the absolute earliest. Given the huge demand for access to the new 6 GHz spectrum band,this means that 6E products will sell as fast as we can build them for years to come.As evidenced by erroneous predictions about the Wi-Fi radio in the recent iPhone 13 introduction, speculation about Wi-Fi 7 is like trying to guess who will be playing in the Super Bowl in two years [5], [6]. Any suggestion that enterprise buyers will voluntarily delay planned 6E deployments are flatly contradicted by demonstrated customer demand and the published standards timelines.
None of this is to say that the new features of Wi-Fi 7 will not be beneficial for consumer buyers whenever it actually begins shipping. “Prosumer” buyers like gamers often buy early and expect the highest possible performance of all their equipment. Home Wi-Fi networks use standard AC wall power rather than PoE, so are not limited in terms of antenna count and spatial streams. The enterprise buyer, however, should move ahead with gusto in deploying Wi-Fi 6E in order to realize the unprecedented opportunities afforded by the opening of the 6 GHz band.
[1]//www.nexbus-cng.com/resource/with-wi-fi-6e-is-it-time-to-consider-a-layered-network-approach/
[2]https://ieee802.org/11/Reports/802.11_Timelines.htm
[4]https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/wi-fi-7-news-speeds-rumors-release-date/
[5]https://www.rprna.com/electronics/apple/apple-iphone-13-to-feature-wifi-6e/
