Latest Standard of WiFi Technology
WiFi 7 is the upcoming WiFi standard, also known as IEEE 802.11be Extremely High Throughput (EHT). It works across all three bands (2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, and 6 GHz) to fully utilize spectrum resources. While WiFi 6 was built in response to the growing number of devices in the world, WiFi 7's goal is to deliver astounding speeds for every device with greater efficiency. If you're struggling with constant buffering, lag, or congestion, a WiFi 7 router may be your best solution.
What WiFi 7 Offers?
4.8× Faster
WiFi 7 accelerates throughput up to 46 Gbps.
4× Lower Latency*
Ultra smooth Wi-Fi with 4× lower latency than Wi-Fi 6/6E routers enables emerging applications to always run at top performance.
5× Network Capacity*
With 320 MHz and MLO (Multi-Link Operation), WiFi 7 provides up to 5× greater capacity than WiFi 6.
What’s Different from the Previous Generations?
Although WiFi 6 provided 37% faster speeds, it was not as impactful as the 10-fold rate increase that WiFi 5 brought. The difference stemmed from the original intention of the WiFi 6 project, which aimed to improve efficiency rather than data rates. WiFi 7, on the other hand, is designed for a generation of higher throughput. WiFi 7 makes giant strides in throughput — 480% more than previous generations. Thanks to backward compatibility a WiFi 7 router opens up your entire home to the latest online experiences.
Key Features of Wi-Fi 7
The Wi-Fi Standards Evolution
The new generation of Wi-Fi will bring a wealth of improvements for all-new levels of responsiveness and consistency. For more than 20 years, Wi-Fi technology has helped keep the world connected by meeting the growing needs of a constantly expanding user base. Along the way, Intel has been part of this evolving effort. Wi-Fi 7 features will expand upon the innovation of Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E to not only enable faster speeds, but dramatically improve responsiveness and reliability for future usages that demand extreme consistency and precision.
320 MHz Channels & 4K QAM
Wi-Fi 7 enables significantly faster speeds by packing more data into each transmission. 320 MHz channels are twice the size of previous Wi-Fi generations—which is somewhat like using a semi-truck to move boxes, compared to a moving van. 4K QAM (Quadrature Amplitude Modulation) enables each signal to more densely embed greater amounts of data compared to the 1K QAM with Wi-Fi 6/6E, which – to continue the truck analogy-- is like having professional movers optimize truck cargo space to pack the maximum number of boxes. The benefit for a typical Wi-Fi 7 laptop is a potential maximum data rate of almost 5.8 Gbps. This is 2.4X faster than the 2.4 Gbps possible with Wi-Fi 6/6E and could easily enable high quality 8K video streaming or reduce a massive 15 GB file download to roughly 25 seconds vs. the one minute it would take with the best legacy Wi-Fi technology.
MLO & Deterministic Latency
While legacy Wi-Fi provides access to multiple wireless bands, devices typically choose only one band to make transmissions—switching to another if conditions change. With MLO (Multi-Link Operation), Wi-Fi 7 devices can simultaneously connect on two bands. This enables faster speeds through aggregation. Or, both bands can be used concurrently to share redundant/unique data for improved reliability with ultra-low and precise latencies. To return to the truck analogy: Think of the legacy Wi-Fi device as moving vans that can only take one highway at a time and choose alternate routes if they run into traffic. However, Wi-Fi 7 semi-trucks will simultaneously operate across two highways to get more boxes to the destination more quickly. Alternatively, identical boxes can be loaded onto trucks on both highways to help ensure at least one of each type arrives at the destination. Lastly, the most important boxes can be loaded onto the truck taking the fastest route—ensuring that the arrival of critical belongings is not impacted by potential delays.
Multi Resource Units (RU) and Puncturing
With legacy Wi-Fi 6/6E, when any part of a large high-speed channel is being used by another device, the entire channel is unavailable—and a different channel must be used. This is like the legacy Wi-Fi moving van not being able to access a particular multi-lane highway and having to find an alternate route because passenger cars are using one of the lanes. With Multi-RU Puncturing, Wi-Fi 7 devices will be able to use other parts of the same high-speed channel not in use to enable very large channels (even if they are less than the maximum 320 MHz size.) This would be like the Wi-Fi 7 movers being able to re-pack most of the semi-truck contents into smaller trucks without having to avoid a partially used multi-lane highway so they can deliver boxes to the destination more quickly and reliability.
The need for WiFi 7
Today, our digital lifestyles are dependent on reliable broadband connectivity and WiFi services. 10G broadband is now a reality and multi-gigabit device capability is driving even more demand for fast and reliable wireless data transfer rates. Consumer spending on data-hungry gaming applications has increased by 40 percent since 2021, and the uptake of augmented reality and virtual reality headsets and immersive devices is unprecedented.
This transformation in consumer demand calls for superfast WiFi with very low deterministic latencies across the entire network. WiFi 7 is tailor-made for whole-home mesh WiFi systems such as Orbi 970, providing the ability for everyone in the household to enjoy a strong and stable internet connection for work, school, and play.
One of Industry’s New Cloud-Managed Universal Wi-Fi 7 Access Point
The AP5020 is an ExtremeCloud IQ-managed, premium-tier Wi-Fi 7 access point (AP) that delivers enhanced wireless experiences, faster speeds, and a range of use cases. This AP is built on Extreme Universal Platform technology, enabling deployment flexibility, and it leverages ExtremeCloud IQ AIOps management to provide improved user experiences.
The AP5020 Wi-Fi 7 AP, with three 4x4:4 radios, provides high-efficiency, high-performance 802.11be aggregate data rates of up to 20 Gbps in the 6 GHz, 5 GHz, and 2.4 GHz bands. Designed for high density environments, such as schools, warehouses, healthcare facilities, and stadiums, the AP5020 is powerful and intelligent enough to provide the highest level of client services without compromising security. Despite advanced capabilities, the AP5020 can operate with fully featured performance capabilities using 802.3bt PoE, simplifying power capacity planning.
With more users, more devices, more applications, and more threats straining the infrastructure, the AP5020 was engineered to meet those challenges. The AP5020 combines powerful 802.11be Wi-Fi 7 technology, advanced security, and AIOps management capabilities together as an enterprise-class solution that allows you to deploy high speed, highly secure Wi-Fi into high-density environments.
Unlike other APs that scan only part time, the AP5020 features a dedicated 2x2 tri-frequency sensor that monitors for rogue devices full time, eliminating the risk of vulnerability and attacks. This tri-radio AP is capable of multiple operational modes, optimizing for maximum performance and security, and features additional dual IoT radios, removing complexity by supporting multiple simultaneous IoT use cases.
Wi-Fi 7 (802.11be) Technology
Previous generations of Wi-Fi introduced the 6GHz band for unlicensed
operation, increasing the available spectrum by up to 1,200 MHz, which is three times that of the existing usable spectrum. The 6 GHz band enables improved quality of service (QoS) in dense environments, new applications and use cases, and an improved user experience. Wi-Fi 7 (802.11be) introduces additional benefits across the 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, and 6 GHz bands with reduced latency and jitter for time-sensitive networking applications. Wi-Fi 7 capabilities such as 320 MHz channels, 4K-QAM, and Multi-Link Operation (MLO) help enable superior speeds and high-density performance.
Security
The AP5020 delivers the highest level of security services, beginning with support for the latest Wi-Fi Alliance WPA3 security certifications. The AP5020 can act as an enforcement point for ExtremeCloud Universal ZTNA to provide seamless policy enforcement. Leveraging Extreme Fabric Attach securely automates provisioning and deployment by connecting to a Fabric Connect-enabled switch. Additionally, the AP supports a stateful L2-L7 DPI firewall for context-based access security, tri-frequency security, a private pre-shared key (PPSK), a location analytics sensor, and much more. The AP5020 also includes a unique 2x2 security sensor for rich insights and threat detection when paired with Extreme AirDefense.
AIOps Management
In conjunction with Extreme centralized management software, cloud or on-premises, the AP5020 provides a rich set of data displayed through widgets, representing enhanced historical data or a combination of historical and current data. This provides context-specific granularity with perspective views for locations, network, APs, individual client devices, and policy roles. In each context, administrators can make a widget library. ExtremeCloud IQ CoPilot leverages Explainable Machine Learning (ML) insights and recommendations to help improve user experiences.
Universal Hardware
The AP5020 is a Universal hardware platform that allows the user to choose the Wi-Fi operating system (OS). Either the ExtremeCloud IQ Engine OS or the ExtremeCloud IQ Controller Engine OS persona can be enabled as required. The desired persona can be selected at startup or changed later. After the OS persona is selected, the AP5020 assumes the features or capabilities of the selected OS. When first booted, the AP5020
automatically connects to ExtremeCloud IQ to find its persona. The preprovisioned OS persona is then remotely enabled on the AP5020 system, eliminating the need for manual selection. As a Universal World SKU AP, the AP5020 allows customers, partners, and distributors to order one model for any region where Extreme Networks products are sold, replacing the age-old problem of country-specific models.
Software-Defined Radios
The AP5020 features the industry’s first software-defined Wi-Fi 7 AP that supports not only dual 5 GHz and dual 6 GHz capabilities, but also multiple additional software programmable modes to optimally manage radios to provide the highest level of client performance. The AP5020 is a tri-radio AP that can transmit with multiple combinations of three data radios across the 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, and 6 GHz bands in addition to a dedicated tri-frequency sensor. The AP5020 intelligently monitors the software-configurable radios, enabling network managers to configure network RF technology based on the user environment and to configure the APs in different modes as required. The AP5020 features superior tri-frequency radio performance with a multiband filter that reduces interference and enables 5 GHz and 6 GHz operation across all available channels without restrictions.
Modern IoT Platform
To support both IoT and guest engagement services, the AP5020 integrates Bluetooth® to connect with IoT devices wirelessly to engage loyal customers with Apple iBeacon. Enterprises can use API-driven applications to send advertisements directly to shoppers, guests, and conference attendees. This makes it ideal for businesses to advertise their app download pages, captive portals, or site-specific information. The AP5020 features dual IoT radios, enabling multiple concurrent IoT use cases with improved performance and reduced complexity.