Intel and Broadcom Achieve Major Wi-Fi 7 Industry Milestone

The world’s first cross-vendor Wi-Fi 7 technology demonstration marks the arrival of the wireless future

Intel and Broadcom recently conducted the industry’s first cross-vendor Wi-Fi 7 demonstration, with wireless transmission speeds exceeding 5Gbps (5GB per second). The trial used a laptop equipped with an Intel® Core™ processor and a Wi-Fi 7 wireless solution, connected to a Broadcom Wi-Fi 7 access point.

“Intel is proud to showcase how next-generation Wi-Fi 7 enables new mobile PC experiences,” said Carlos Cordeiro, Intel Fellow and Chief Wireless Officer for the Client Computing Group. “Industry collaboration is critical to ensuring the promise of this new wireless technology is delivered. We are grateful to our partners at Broadcom for their collaboration on the technology to make this world premiere of the unprecedented ultra-high speed, ultra-low latency Wi-Fi 7 a success.”

"This milestone demonstration sends a clear message: the ecosystem is ready for Wi-Fi 7 to deliver the exceptional capacity and blazing speeds that will further extend gigabit broadband," said Vijay Nagarajan, vice president of Wireless Connectivity at Broadcom. "The reliable, low-latency communications delivered by Wi-Fi 7 are a critical element in achieving Broadcom's vision of connecting everything as the Internet evolves to become a fully immersive experience. Industry collaboration is key to achieving this exceptional connectivity, and we are pleased to once again achieve industry-leading results with Intel."

As a carrier platform for the wireless experience of the next decade, Wi-Fi 7 needs to meet higher speeds, lower latency, improved reliability, and greater capacity. Wi-Fi 7 takes full advantage of new features, including wider 320MHz channels in the unlicensed 6GHz spectrum, higher-order 4K QAM digital signal modulation and demodulation technology, concurrent connections across multiple frequency bands through multi-link operation, and improved channel utilization through multi-resource unit puncturing technology.

Wi-Fi 7's deterministic operation enables new product categories, including augmented and virtual reality, 16K UHD resolution media streaming, ultra-responsive and reliable gaming experiences, and networking a large number of devices in the home or office. With the dramatic increase in speeds of Wi-Fi 7, broadband users will enjoy the full value of Gigabit Internet plans.

"Wi-Fi 7 is the most powerful Wi-Fi protocol yet and will continue to serve the most demanding consumer and vertical market applications with the highest level of certainty," said Phil Solis, research director of connectivity at IDC. "Interoperability testing between Intel and Broadcom will help develop products for use in the Wi-Fi Alliance's official certification testbeds."

Intel and Broadcom provide the complete network critical to realizing the full potential of Wi-Fi 7 and delivering a superior end-to-end experience to the broader Wi-Fi market.

"As long-time board members of the Wireless Broadband Alliance, Broadcom and Intel played an instrumental role in the creation of Wi-Fi 6 and 6E. Now, they are leading the industry again with Wi-Fi 7, with countries in Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Latin America, and the United States rapidly supporting 6 GHz spectrum," said Tiago Rodrigues, CEO of the Wireless Broadband Alliance. "The companies' successful trial is an important milestone in advancing Wi-Fi 7 to bring speeds of over 10 Gbps, ultra-low latency, carrier-grade adaptability, and other next-generation capabilities to consumers and businesses around the world. Enterprise and residential networks will also benefit greatly from Wi-Fi 7's advanced capabilities."

This successful demonstration is sufficient to prove that Wi-Fi 7 has arrived, and Broadcom and Intel will continue to demonstrate other features of Wi-Fi 7.