Marvell Announces Industry’s Most Complete 802.11ax Wireless Portfolio

Marvell, a leader in storage, networking and connectivity semiconductor solutions, introduced what the company says is the industry’s most complete 802.11ax wireless product portfolio. The Marvell 802.11ax product family is architected to deliver breakthrough performance, improved network efficiency, low latency and enterprise-grade reliability. Marvell is the first to offer a full multi-user MIMO (MU-MIMO) and OFDMA uplink and downlink based on the latest IEEE 802.11ax standards. This added performance capability will help the next generation of high-end users — “Generation Upload” — with real-time cloud-based requirements.

Marvell believes the latest 802.11ax standard will bring major enhancements to wireless networks, while maintaining full backward compatibility. The standard dramatically improves network performance and reliability in dense deployments and crowded public venues like airports, stadiums and shopping malls. The new Marvell wireless systems on chip (SoC) have the industry’s most complete 802.11ax implementation, with full MU-MIMO and OFDMA uplink and downlink, multi-Gbps peak speeds, precision location, cloud management, best-in-class beamforming and integrated Bluetooth^® 5 technology.

Delivering consistent performance and reliability is becoming increasingly difficult for networks already straining to support dramatic increases in connected devices, high-definition streaming video, social media and cloud applications. The average household will have about 50 connected devices by 2022.¹ Major technology advancements are needed to better support today’s diverse users who are driving higher-end emerging use cases, such as virtual and augmented reality, live streaming and smart cities.

Marvell’s 802.11ax announced portfolio consists of three devices: 88W9068, 88W9064 and 88W9064S.

88W9068 is optimized for premium enterprise and retail access points, carrier gateways and fixed wireless services. Key features include:

• 8 x 8, 8-spatial stream device with 5 GHz support
• Uplink and downlink OFDMA
• Uplink and downlink MU-MIMO
• 1024-QAM
• Off-channel spectrum scanning
• Dedicated in-service monitoring
• Precision location

88W9064 is optimized for mainstream enterprise and retail access points, carrier gateways and fixed wireless services. Key features include:

• 4 x 4, 4-spatial stream device with 5 and 2.4 GHz support
• Uplink and downlink OFDMA
• Uplink and downlink MU-MIMO
• 1024-QAM
• Off-channel spectrum scanning
• Dedicated in-service monitoring
• Precision location
• Integrated Bluetooth 5

88W9064S is optimized for the service provider and OTT set-top box markets. Key features include:

• 2 x 4, 2-spatial stream device with 5 and 2.4 GHz support
• Uplink and downlink OFDMA
• Uplink and downlink MU-MIMO
• 1024-QAM
• Off-channel spectrum scanning
• Dedicated in-service monitoring
• Precision location
• Integrated Bluetooth 5

Mark Montierth, the vice president and general manager of the Wireless Connectivity business unit at Marvell, said, “Wi-Fi technology must scale dramatically to meet the rapidly growing bandwidth and quality demands of the modern home, enterprise and connected car. Marvell contributed extensively to the 802.11ax specification and is now introducing an 802.11ax family of products that include the industry’s most complete feature set and highest performance. Our newly announced 802.11ax family delivers consistent performance, offers our customers unprecedented solution flexibility and state-of-the-art technologies for precision location and integrated Bluetooth 5.”

Eu Chong Son, vice president of engineering at Linksys, said, “As a leader and pioneer in building Wi-Fi products for consumers and small businesses, we are thrilled by Marvell’s announcement today on their 802.11ax solutions. User behaviors are constantly evolving and we welcome such technological innovations so that we can be a step ahead in developing solutions and products that ultimately bring delightful experiences to our customers.”

Committed to a complete portfolio of 802.11ax fully compliant products, Marvell has been sampling lead customers since early 2017, gaining significant traction and momentum in the marketplace. Marvell will be conducting 802.11ax demonstrations at CES^® 2018 in Las Vegas.