iiNet getting ready for 802.11ac
Celeno tapped as silicon supplier
Supercharge your infrastructure
While there might be political controversy surrounding the question of how much broadband is enough, iiNet is preparing for a near-term future in which consumer kit has to cope with multiple high-definition TV streams being distributed around a single household.
Lifting a veil from its future product plans, the number-two DSL provider has just signed its second contract with Israeli fabless developer Celeno as its 802.11ac radio silicon supplier, specifically citing IPTV and multi-streaming households as its target market.
The company was previously 802.11n supplier to iiNet Labs, where products like iiNet's BoB range of DSL and VoIP hardware is developed. The two companies signed their first supply contract back in 2011.
In preparing to adopt 802.11ac, iiNet's product boss Stephen Hartley said the Celeno silicon would provide the “best IPTV experience available”. He singled out Celeno's OptimizAIR technology as important, saying it will help “manage HD quality WiFi among multiple devices in the home”.
While the standard won't be formally completed until 2014, iiNet is getting ready ahead of time, saying it plans to take advantage of the 80 Mhz-width bonded channels in the 5 GHz baseband standard to support its HD requirements.
The 802.11ac standard is expected to deliver multi-station throughput as high as 1 Gbps, and single channels at 500 Mbps. Channels can be bonded up to a 160 MHz width, and the system runs as many as eight spatial MIMO streams. ®
