Nokia introduces new Wi-Fi 6 mesh router and technology innovations to deliver ultimate gigabit experience in a 5G world

• Nokia adds the Beacon 6 to its whole-home WiFi portfolio, which already includes the Beacon 1, the Beacon 3 and family of mesh fiber gateways
• Beacon 6 is the first Nokia Wi-Fi device to support Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi Certified EasyMesh™ along with the Nokia WiFi Cloud Controller to manage mesh WiFi remotely
• Nokia first to deliver a seamless transition for mobile devices moving between 5G and Wi-Fi 6 to maintain throughput and low latency for video streaming and cloud gaming applications
• Nokia also pioneering support for low-latency technology innovations for Wi-Fi networks that revolutionize the way users experience the internet and gaming applications
• Nokia Bell Labs researchers have significantly contributed to development of Wi-Fi 6

19 March 2020: Espoo, Finland – Nokia today announced it is adding a new Wi-Fi 6 Beacon to its whole-home WiFi portfolio, helping operators to deliver a powerful user experience. Providing a high-capacity, high-performance in-home solution, the new Beacon 6 uses Wi-Fi 6 to deliver 40 percent faster speeds than previous Wi-Fi generations.

To further enhance the in-home experience, Nokia is also adding low-latency technology built on Nokia Bell Labs innovations to its Wi-Fi portfolio. Drastically improving residential Wi-Fi networks, the Nokia Beacon 6 provides operators with an easy to install solution that can support low-latency applications such as gaming and gigabit speeds essential for creating a seamless end-to-end 5G experience.

Ben Wood, chief of research at CCS Insight said: “The benefits of 5G are going to change user experiences and customers’ expectations. The blend of the latest Wi-Fi 6 technology, low latency performance and in-home Wi-Fi mesh solutions linked to 5G will allow operators to deliver a seamless communications platform for next generation applications and solutions.”

Currently more than 25 percent of homes globally are connected to a Wi-Fi network and there are about 5 billion Wi-Fi-connected devices in the home including home computing, smart TVs and smart home devices. To cope with this growth, operators and end-users are investing in devices that support Wi-Fi 6, a new Wi-Fi standard that improves speed by at least four times in dense areas and reduces latency by 75 percent1.

The Beacon 6 is the first Nokia WiFi device to showcase several new technologies working seamlessly together. This includes: 

• Support for Wi-Fi 6 which improves the overall speed, performance and latency of a Wi-Fi network with OFDMA2, a modulation scheme used in 5G that allows the access point to talk to more devices at once. 
• The Beacon 6 introduces Wi-Fi Certified EasyMesh3 and is fully interoperable with 3rd party Wi-Fi Certified EasyMesh products for easy install. Nokia’s new mesh controller capabilities ensure the best Wi-Fi performance is achieved in the home by managing channel selection and adding advanced interference capabilities that are unique in the market.
• Nokia Bell Labs low-latency innovations including PI24 algorithm (available 2H20) that consistently improves latency even in congested environments. With PI2, latency is reduced from hundreds of milliseconds to 20 milliseconds which can be further reduced to <5 milliseconds when paired with L4S in the core network. L4S is currently being standardized by the IETF5 and builds on Bell Labs innovations that eliminate jitters and delays that can impact the user experience in low-latency applications like gaming and virtual reality.

The introduction of Nokia’s Beacon 6 and new low-latency innovations will play an important role in helping operators deliver a powerful 5G user experience at home. With Nokia’s Beacon 6, operators can leverage the speed and performance of Wi-Fi 6 to seamlessly off-load 5G mobile traffic to the Wi-Fi network, allowing end users connected to a 5G wireless network to go from the car into the home without any disruptions. This is critical for operators looking to free up expensive 5G spectrum for higher ARPU use cases like Industry 4.0 and IoT.

“Nokia’s new Beacon 6 will play a fundamental role in helping operators significantly enhance residential Wi-Fi and for the first time, deliver a true 5G experience across the network,” said Sandra Motley, President of Fixed Networks at Nokia.  “By leveraging the power of Wi-Fi 6, Nokia’s new Beacon 6 can help establish a significantly faster and more powerful Wi-Fi network in the home that will forever change the game for operators and end users alike. Whether it’s a home, work or public environment, the ability to seamlessly offload from mobile 5G to Wi-Fi 6 will enable operators to accelerate 5G rollouts, reduce costs and ultimately ensure a consistent, premium 5G end-users experience is achieved.”

“New Zealand already has some of the fastest internet connectivity in the world thanks to the strong customer uptake of the FTTH Ultra-Fast Broadband (UFB) program,” said JB Rousselot, Chorus New Zealand’s Chief Executive Officer. “We are building on this fantastic progress with the launch of our 10G GPON services under the product banner of HyperFibre and are excited about the role that WiFi6 will play in enhancing the customers experience.  Lab testing of the Beacon 6 on our fibre network has demonstrated that we can take wireless speeds beyond a gig.  This new technology provides a way for our fantastic fibre asset to play a meaningful part in New Zealanders 5G wireless experiences.”

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