Wi-Fi Alliance Announces 'Wi-Fi 6E'

The Wi-Fi Alliance has announced a new ‘Wi-Fi 6E’ designation that will identify upcoming devices capable of 6 GHz operation.

Unlicensed 6 GHz spectrum will soon be made available by regulators around the world. Once that happens, Wi-Fi 6E devices will be able to utilize the additional spectrum capacity to deliver improved performance.

Once 6 GHz is made available by regulators, analysts predict the first Wi-Fi devices to use the band will include Wi-Fi 6E consumer access points and smartphones, followed by enterprise-grade access points. Industrial environments are also expected to see strong adoption from Wi-Fi 6E to deliver applications including machine analytics, remote maintenance, or virtual employee training. Wi-Fi 6E will utilize 6 GHz to deliver much anticipated augmented reality and virtual reality (AR/VR) use cases for consumer, enterprise, and industrial environments.