Cisco and Federated Wireless validated and deployed Wi-Fi 6E and Wi-Fi 7 Standard Power specifications that allow for the deployment of higher performing Wi-Fi networks in the United States and Canada, a move that could boost what is an already growing market for equipment using those new Wi-Fi standards.

The validation used Federated Wireless’ Automated Frequency Coordination (AFC) service to support access to a deeper pool of 6 GHz spectrum running on Cisco’s Wi-Fi hardware. The AFC platform provides a cloud-based spectrum frequency coordination component that allows those Cisco devices to sense potential interference concerns in the shared 6 GHz spectrum bands and alter power output to stay within legal bounds.

Matt Landry, VP of product management for Cisco Wireless, explained that the Federated Wireless platform integration allows each of those access points to support more capacity due to the deeper spectrum pool to draw from and boost coverage by allowing each of those access points to push that 6 GHz spectrum channel further into coverage. This includes both Wi-Fi 6e and Wi-Fi 7 equipment.

Federated Wireless unveiled its AFC platform last year, touting early work with Cisco, Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE)-Aruba, MediaTek, and Tarana Wireless. That platform provides management and service level agreements (SLAs) for Wi-Fi devices using the 6 GHz space.

Federated Wireless has a history of spectrum management, having gained significant traction doing similar work with the quasi-licensed Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) spectrum that is used in some private network deployments.

Wi-Fi’s spectrum wonderland

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in 2020 approved opening up 1,200 megahertz of spectrum in the 6 GHz band available to Wi-Fi for unlicensed use. However, that spectrum included incumbent users that limited the amount of spectrum devices could tap into depending on shared usage requirements.

This led to low-powered 6e equipment that did have access to wider spectrum channels for more capacity compared with legacy Wi-Fi equipment that were limited to the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands but often were limited in power output to push the 6 GHz signal to equal coverage of the lower spectrum bands. The Wi-Fi 7 standard somewhat made up for this shortcoming by including backward support for legacy Wi-Fi spectrum bands.

Frequency coordination platforms allow Wi-Fi 6e and Wi-Fi 7 devices to take advantage of both the deeper 6 GHz spectrum pool and the ability to beam those signals a further distance.

This coverage and capacity boost is expected to be most relevant to outdoor Wi-Fi deployments.

Landry added that the Federated Wireless integration should help organizations overcome concerns about deploying Wi-Fi access points in the 6 GHz band.

“I would say that AFC is a real enabler for Wi-Fi 7, so even for customers or deployments that don't need it, it helps provide that level of comfort that there shouldn't be any worries about coverage just due to the higher frequency,” Landry said.

Federated Wireless CEO Iyad Tarazi noted that this is showing up with work in the fixed-wireless access (FWA) space, specifically pointing to work with FWA provider Tarana Wireless.

Cisco's WLAN dominance

The Federated Wireless integration also bolsters Cisco’s strong position in the Wi-Fi access point space.

IDC recently reported that Cisco’s enterprise WLAN revenues increased 8% year over year during the second quarter, pushing the vendor’s total segment revenues to $996 million and a 37.8% share of the market. That share was more than twice that of next-largest rival Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE)-Aruba.

Dell’Oro Group in a separate report furthered that notion, with research director Siân Morgan stating, “Cisco has kept its average Wi-Fi 7 AP price significantly below the price of Wi-Fi 6E when it was first introduced. This was a catalyst for adoption in the second quarter, encouraging the market transition to the latest Wi-Fi standard.”

Landry added that Cisco’s market position and differentiation leans into its portfolio breadth. This includes a recent AI-infusion into its Wi-Fi 7 product line, which included configurable radiation and beamforming patters to suit specific physical locations and government requirements.

“The goal really is making it easier for customers to deploy, making it easier for them to assess their use cases, and find the right product in order to fit it,” Landry said. “That's why we have the breadth of portfolio we do and why we introduce some of these sort of innovations. And the work with Federated fits directly in with that, because that's about automation and streamlining to make it faster and easier to get things working with minimal overhead.”