IEEE 802.11ac, a high throughput wireless LAN technology,
can provide gigabit speeds and improved the ability for many users accessing
access points simultaneously. Initially speeds around the 400-600Mbps will most
likely result, but with sufficient capacity for carrying multiple compressed
video streams over a single channel. 2nd wave implementations will move to
speeds closer to 1Gbps. The end game is a total potential interface rate of up
to 6.93Gbps (8 spatial streams, 256 QAM, 160 MHz channels).
Why it Matters
11ac can provide higher levels of performance on par with
gigabit Ethernet networking. Multiple users can access Wi-Fi hot spots
simultaneously (airports, hotels, stadium, or SMB/enterprise networks),
potentially nearing gigabit speeds.
11ac will aid in offloading more data from cellular to
Wi-Fi networks. Globally, 46 percent of total mobile data traffic was offloaded
onto the fixed network through Wi-Fi or femtocell in 2014. In 2014, 2.2
exabytes of mobile data traffic were offloaded onto the fixed network each
month. Without offload, mobile data traffic would have grown 84 percent rather
than 69 percent in 2014.[i]
Carriers can better meet the ever-growing demands for
broadband enhancements, which also enable new revenue streams from service
opportunities like Wi-Fi roaming, location-based services and better data
analytics.
Technology
802.11ac is essentially an evolutionary extension of the current
802.11n Wi-Fi standard with 11n’s theoretical speed, depending upon configuration,
of up to 600Mbps at peak (obtained with 4 transmit/4 receive antenna and 4
different spatial streams – MIMO 4x4).
11ac is designed to deliver speeds up to 1Gbps by doubling the MIMO
spatial streams to 8 in 2nd wave of implementation.
Like 11n, 11ac uses multiple antennae for sending but will
operate in the less crowded 5GHz spectrum. Channel width widens to 80MHz and then to 160MHz providing
more bandwidth (compared
to 20MHz for 11n) and employs a higher density higher density modulation
scheme (256 QAM vs 64 QAM for 11n).
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The real innovation of 11ac, coming in the
2nd wave, is Multi-use MIMO (MU-MIMO) with up to 4 simultaneous connections
each with the theoretical capacity of 1.3Gbps of bandwidth. MU-MIMO provides for multiple logical
connections to devices at the same time thus increasing network efficiency by
making use of its gigabit capacity. This is enabled by a process called beamforming which focuses RF energy in a specific direction, according to each client's relationship to the signal.
Initially, consumer devices with 11ac radios are likely to be single-antenna clients, with a
maximum data rate of around 433Mbps. Faster data rates will be realized eventually with MU-MIMO
multiple antenna clients.[ii]
Players, Enablers, Numbers
Ruckus Wireless, Cisco Systems, Huawei Technologies, Aruba
and HP are among the largest vendors of carrier Wi-Fi equipment. In some
instances engineering and manufacturing efficiencies enable access point
deployments at a cost less than the predecessor technology 802.11n technology. Some
newer 11n access points are field-upgradable to 11ac. New System-on-a-Chip
(SoC) designs may further reduce deployments costs.
ABI Research suggests that by the end of 2015, about 71
million consumer Wi-Fi devices based on the 802.11ac standards will ship
worldwide.
Research
firm Infonetics suggests that most of the carrier Wi-Fi revenue last year came
from access points, with another 22 percent coming from Wi-Fi
controllers. In the second half of the year, 802.11ac APs accounted for 17
percent of Wi-Fi AP revenue, and will drive spending on hotspot upgrades
through at least 2019[iii].
Related: Hot Spot 2.0
[ii] Consult white
paper for in-depth technical details
