Broadcom debuts 3.20Gb/s 802.11ac six-stream platform for routers

Broadcom last week introduced the industry's first six stream 802.11ac MIMO platform for home networks. Broadcom claims that its 5G WiFi XStream is up to 50 per cent faster than MU-MIMO routers and gateways. What is important is that the company’s technology can boost network performance of existing devices.

Broadcom's 5G WiFi XStream is a MIMO platform for home routers that includes six 802.11ac streams over 160MHz channels and three 802.11n streams that run simultaneously. As a result, more devices can be connected to a router at the same time without slowdowns and disconnections. In addition, Broadcom's intelligent Quality of Service (iQoS) advanced software identifies incoming traffic and allocates bandwidth for streaming applications, while lowering priorities for things like downloads. In addition, the software ensures that fast 802.11ac devices in the home are not sharing airtime with slower Wi-Fi devices.

By offering Wi-Fi data rates up to 3.2Gb/s, Broadcom's 5G WiFi XStream delivers an ideal experience for users who are simultaneously consuming more data, connecting Internet of Things devices and streaming HD content to multiple screens.

Broadcom’s 5G WiFi XStream platform is based on five-core “Penta Core” central processing unit (CPU) that runs at 2.96GHz. The solution also includes two 5GHz radios and one 2.4GHz radio.

Broadcom's 5G WiFi XStream platform is currently sampling and will be in production this quarter. Asustek Computer, Belkin and Netgear will be the first companies to utilise the new platform.

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KitGuru Says: The new Wi-Fi platform looks very promising. It is especially important than unlike some other solutions, the novelty works here and now and does not require all devices to adopt its standards. Since there are loads of Wi-Fi-enabled consumer devices, including smartphones, tablets, PCs, smart TVs and various intelligent home appliances, ability to connect tens of clients to a single router/gateway is crucial. Broadcom’s 5G WiFi XStream platform solves just this problem, at least, on paper.

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