Rethink Technology Research, a research and analyst company focusing on video networks, OTT, Pay TV and Broadband, has released a new Multi-AP five-year forecast “The Multi-AP WiFi revolution: How WiFi jumps 10X and takes over the world,” forecasting how by 2023 Cloud management software will control 658 million WiFi homes, with software worth $346m. Separately by 2023 some 364 million of those homes will have more than a single Access Point cooperating to create a home WiFi network.
The outcome will lead to a savage reinstatement of operator controlled WiFi, making huge dents in the WiFi retail market, and it will shift the broadband market control to a new class of “early adopter” specialist WiFi player. “We expect some parts of the home to enjoy 1 Gbps to 2 Gbps in one of the most rapid consumer technology rollouts ever,” researchers highlight.
What consumers will notice is that WiFi will become more reliable as operators prepare for the 1 Gbps broadband market by improving their WiFi throughput. Many will do this as 802.11AX devices come on stream in the coming 2 to 3 years.
This revolution is raging quietly through the world’s broadband operators – with the potential to upgrade many of the 1 billion homes with Home Gateway and Cloud software, which will turn operator controlled WiFi into a kind of Super WiFi. In fact, not only are the world’s broadband operators at it, some DTH operators with no broadband pipe are hijacking WiFi to turn it to their own purposes – so everyone is getting in on this. Already today there are 46 million homes that have some kind of managed WiFi and 16.8 million Multi-AP installs, but this will grow some 20-fold over the forecast period.
In a world increasingly reliant on the internet; consistent, high-quality connection is everything. It won’t be long before every device in your home and office is linked via the Internet of Things (IoT). When your fridge, your laptop and even your front-door lock are being managed by the same connection, that connection needs to be strong! For the full story on the IoT and its implications for the future of the internet read; The Internet Of Things Is Driven By Network, Not Devices.
