Qualcomm Expands 802.11ac MU-MIMO Product Portfolio for Wi-Fi Access Points and Routers, Builds Momentum with Significant Customer Adoption

SAN DIEGO, June 1, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Qualcomm Incorporated (NASDAQ: QCOM) today announced that its subsidiary, Qualcomm Atheros, Inc., is unveiling new 802.11ac Wave 2 solutions that combine multi-user multi-input/multi-output (MU-MIMO), support for 160 MHz channels and 4x4 antenna configurations to offer higher performance and more efficient Wi-Fi® connectivity. In addition to the new Qualcomm® MU | EFX products, Qualcomm Atheros continues to help customers drive adoption of networking, computing and mobile products that can achieve up to three times faster 802.11ac connections in today's increasingly crowded environments. A number of Qualcomm Atheros customers have or will soon launch products based on the current generation of MU-MIMO chips.

Next Generation of Qualcomm MU | EFX Products

Qualcomm Atheros is now adding two new products that further extend the capabilities of its Qualcomm MU | EFX line up. Qualcomm Atheros' new products, which include the QCA9984 for home routers and QCA9994 for enterprise access points, will offer advanced features to meet the requirements of the most demanding networks:

• Enhanced MU-MIMO, with support for four simultaneous streams.
• Support for new, wider 160MHz contiguous and 80+80MHz non-contiguous 802.11ac channels - offering double the capacity of the existing 80MHz channels. The QCA9994 further supports 5/10 MHz narrow channels for public safety applications.
• Bandwidth agility allows the radio to move seamlessly between channel widths on a packet-by-packet basis and achieve greater spectrum efficiency and throughput.
• Package-compatibility with the QCA998x and QCA999x solutions for a seamless transition from existing designs.

"As people bring more media devices into homes and workplaces, maintaining the best possible performance in crowded networks is a top priority," said Todd Antes, vice president of product management, Qualcomm Atheros, Inc. "Our new 802.11ac solutions include additional Wave-2 features to raise the performance bar yet again-laying the groundwork for the next-generation of Wi-Fi infrastructure."

The latest Qualcomm® VIVE™ with Qualcomm MU | EFX solutions are sampling now, with customers such as TP-Link incorporating the QCA9984 into its designs. Qualcomm Atheros is showing this new technology in a live, over-the-air demonstration of 160 MHz operation during Computex, alongside other Wi-Fi, mobile and innovations for the Internet of Everything.

Continued traction in 802.11ac Wi-Fi with MU-MIMO

Since launching the industry's first MU-MIMO solutions more than a year ago, Qualcomm Atheros continues to gain traction with the world's leading manufacturers. To date, more than 10 networking customers, and an increasing number of mobile and computing customers, are already designing and launching products based on Qualcomm Atheros' first generation MU-MIMO solutions.

Routers and Access Points

"Our new Athena Router was engineered with the multi-user household top of mind," said Lacey Limbrick, brand/marketing manager at Amped Wireless. "It hits all of the leading marks in both speed and range performance, and it is our proudest innovation yet. We couldn't be more excited to team up with Qualcomm Atheros to entirely change the way our customers experience Wi-Fi with this High Power AC2600 Wi-Fi Router with MU-MIMO, the Athena."

"The Aruba 320 series access points with Qualcomm VIVE with Qualcomm MU | EFX MU-MIMO technology are designed to allow our customers to experience Wi-Fi to its maximum potential," said Christian Gilby, director of product marketing for Aruba Networks, an HP company. "Customers should expect to see our first MU-MIMO access point in the third quarter 2015."

"Keeping the latest innovations ingrained in our products is part of what we stand for," said Jeff Hsue, general manager, Hitron Technologies Inc. "DOCSIS 3.0 Cable Gateway, CGNVM, CGNV4 will be available at the end of Q3 2015, allowing our customers to maximize the speed at which they use the internet."

"MU-MIMO technology revolutionizes the wireless experience in the home," said Mike Chen, vice president of product management, Linksys. "The new Linksys EA8500 Max-Stream MU-MIMO Gigabit router and first available MU-MIMO router, incorporating Qualcomm MU | EFX MU-MIMO technology, helps multi-device households get better performance for all their devices including smart phones, tablets, TVs, game consoles, computers and home automation solutions. We are so confident in the experience that MU-MIMO provides that we will be expanding our product line in the future to include more MU-MIMO routers."

"For customers who do a lot of streaming, gaming and other high performance networking activities, Qualcomm VIVE with Qualcomm MU | EFX MU-MIMO technology provides an excellent experience," said Sandeep Harpalani, director of product marketing for NETGEAR.

Computing

"By using Qualcomm MU | EFX MU-MIMO technology in our products, we are providing customers with the capability of fulfilling the demands for high definition applications," said James K Lin, general ganager, Consumer Notebook Business Unit, Acer. "To date, we have the Aspire E 14 and E 15 notebooks using MU-MIMO."

"We are very excited about the potential disruption next generation Wi-Fi technologies will bring in the enterprise and consumer space from speed to capacity enhancements," said Sam Ramdenbourg, director of wireless and device strategy at Dell. "Dell DW1820 with MU-MIMO is at the heart of the next wave of innovations enabling our customers to leverage key benefits of leading edge Wi-Fi technologies."

"Our customers demand the latest and greatest technology," said a representative from Samsung Electronics. "With MU-MIMO from Qualcomm Atheros, we are able to meet the demand to access and download high definition applications."

Mobile

"Demands for high definition gaming, downloading and streaming 4K video only continue to rise," said Ni Fei, chief executive officer, nubia. "With MU-MIMO technology from Qualcomm Atheros, our customers can continue to enjoy these activities at lightning-fast speeds."

"Xiaomi made the decision to include the MU-MIMO functionality in our premium Mi Note Pro and our popular Mi 4i products because we see it as a game-changer for providing customers the ideal connectivity on their smartphones," said Tony Wei, senior director of marketing, Xiaomi. "Customers want more from their phones, and Xiaomi is delivering."

About Qualcomm Incorporated

Qualcomm Incorporated (NASDAQ: QCOM) is a world leader in 3G, 4G and next-generation wireless technologies. Qualcomm Incorporated includes Qualcomm's licensing business, QTL, and the vast majority of its patent portfolio. Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated, operates, along with its subsidiaries, substantially all of Qualcomm's engineering, research and development functions, and substantially all of its products and services businesses, including its semiconductor business, QCT. For more than 25 years, Qualcomm ideas and inventions have driven the evolution of digital communications, linking people everywhere more closely to information, entertainment and each other. For more information, visit Qualcomm's website, OnQ blog, Twitter and Facebook pages.

Qualcomm and VIVE are trademarks of Qualcomm Incorporated, registered in the United States and other countries. Other product and brand names may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. Qualcomm VIVE and Qualcomm MU | EFX are products of Qualcomm Atheros, Inc.

Qualcomm Contacts:
Laurie Falconer, Qualcomm Atheros
Phone: 1-408-652-0632
Email: [email protected]

Emily Kilpatrick, Corporate Communications
Phone: 1-858-845-5959
Email: [email protected]

Warren Kneeshaw, Investor Relations
Phone: 1-858-658-4813
Email: [email protected]

SOURCE Qualcomm Technologies

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