Interconnected devices in a single place undeniably slow network performance, most especially in public hotspots where everyone wants to have a piece of the connection. It can get pretty annoying, we all know that.
Technology, sometimes the root cause of all these technological heartaches, has its own way of redeeming itself, too. Here's proof.
Qualcomm Atheros Inc. decided to deliver the first Qualcomm VIVE 4-stream 802.11ac solutions that have multi-user MIMO (MU-MIMO). Qualcomm Atheros, a subsidiary of Qualcomm, made the announcement April 3.
Qualcomm, considered to be the world's front-runner in 3G, 4G and next-generation wireless technologies, said the move aims to seriously enhance the performance of Wi-Fi.
"Great connectivity is not just about increasing the absolute speed. It's about making better use of network and airtime efficiency to support the growing number of connected devices, services and applications," senior vice president Dan Rabinovitsj of Qualcomm Atheros said in a statement.
The company described MU-MIMO as a groundbreaking new method for the Wi-Fi networks to function as compared with the usual Wi-Fi wherein customers get served successively. With MU-MIMO, there is synchronized transmission to client groups, which leads to a more effective consumption of existing Wi-Fi network capacity and a speed-up of transmissions.
The solutions, boosted with an innovative algorithm-based technology, provide two to three times more network capacity, which has been designed to enhance how Wi-Fi devices get to be served to maximize that additional capacity.
Rabinovitsj said it took them seven years of development and testing of MU-MIMO to obtain a deeper understanding of real-world channel behavior with such an advanced Wi-Fi technology in congested environments.
"These insights have led to the creation of our precision-based algorithm technology that, along with technologies like the Qualcomm Internet Processor and StreamBoost(TM), maximizes Wi-Fi performance for all connected devices," Rabinovitsj said.
Said technology has been designed to adapt vigorously to channel condition changes, application requirements and movement of devices so as to make the most of the device and output performance. Such technology allows the best of the existing bandwidth and, at the same time, maintains better conditions even in complicated, multi-user networks.
However, MU-MIMO must be utilized on both sides of the connection to obtain its maximum benefits.
Qualcomm Atheros, according to the company statement, will provide a complete network of solutions for interacting or interconnecting products, including tablets, smartphones, computers, automobiles and consumer electronics.
Meanwhile, CEO Patrick Lo of Netgear, a computer hardware and networking equipment company, called the MU-MIMO technology timely.
