Qualcomm unveils its Wi-Fi 7-enabling Networking Pro series of wireless comms platforms

Wi-Fi 7 is the latest iteration of networking standards rated to confer new specs and features such as more bands, wider 320MHz channels, more co-ordinated, adaptive and high-volume linking and, thus, a more feasible route to wireless networking throughput of 10 gigabits per second (Gb/s) or more. This, at least, is what Qualcomm touts its new, third-gen Networking Pro Series of platforms as capable of.

These components might thus form the basis of the newest and fanciest routers of the future and more. In fact, Qualcomm pitches them as suitable for commercial-grade networking equipement as well as premium home equipment. Obviously, the company strongly hints that they might go best with clients (to be found in Wi-Fi 7-compatible personal devices) such as FastConnect 7800.

The Networking Pro Gen 3 platforms may deliver the promise of Wi-Fi 7 through proprietary Qualcomm architectures as well as Automated Frequency Control (AFC), another new technology geared toward the improved ability to make the 6GHz band more scaleable and amenable to use by clouds and access points.

Qualcomm's new series consists of the tri-band Networking Pro 620 and 1220 platforms, rated for 6 or 12 streams and up to 10.8 or 21.6 Gb/s of peak wireless capacity respectively. Their quad-band Networking Pro 820 sibling, on the other hand, is touted to achieve up to 13.7 Gb/s of peak wireless capacity through 6 streams.

Then again, the new Gen 3 12-stream Networking Pro 1620 flagship platform is rated to have a peak capacity of no less than 33.1 Gb/s. Therefore, these new components may indeed pop up as a marketing buzzword among the makers of premium, Wi-Fi 7- (and also possibly 6/6E) -capable APs, domestic mesh systems and so on some time soon, especially as Qualcomm is at the stage of seeding the platforms to these OEMs at the time of writing.