Wi-Fi Alliance introduces EasyMesh for intelligent home networking

The Wi-Fi Alliance is introducing Wi-Fi Certified EasyMesh, a new certification program for bringing more consistency to in-home mesh networks.

Wi-Fi EasyMesh is a Wi-Fi Alliance certification program focused on access points and gateways, but user devices also get the benefits of Wi-Fi EasyMesh networks, which are designed to deliver a consistent level of interoperability between access points and client devices.

It includes easy setup for device onboarding and incorporates network intelligence. With EasyMesh, the network will self-optimize and self-organize, said Kevin Robinson, vice president of marketing at Wi-Fi Alliance. The network collects information about the environment and uses it to make decisions about how to optimize the network, he said.

The increasing number of connected devices in the home, particularly those that rely on high-performance connectivity, requires a uniform, consistent, high-performance network, according to Robinson. In addition, there’s an increasing number of homes that have multiple access points.

Some of the key players in the space are Eero, Google Wifi and Netgear Orbi.  

Through Wi-Fi EasyMesh, the Wi-Fi Alliance is delivering a standards-based approach to an area that is already a market-leading category to enable a strong ecosystem for Wi-Fi Certified devices, which is in line with how the industry has evolved over the years, he told FierceWirelessTech.

One of the nice things about it being a Wi-Fi Alliance program is all of the technical capabilities are there but also the benefits of the Wi-Fi Certified promise, such as interoperability and consistency of experience across vendors, he added.

Numerous entities already are supporting EasyMesh, including AirTies, Assia, Broadcom, CableLabs, Intel, Liberty Global, Marvell, MediaTek, Qualcomm Technologies and Quantenna.

"Wi-Fi Alliance is delivering a fundamental innovation for interoperability which is necessary to enable residential IoT and the connected smart home, and products would benefit greatly from being Wi-Fi Certified," said Adlane Fellah, a wireless analyst with Maravedis, in a statement. “Wi-Fi EasyMesh delivers a better residential Wi-Fi user experience and a standardized approach further expands an existing market and drives greater innovation among product vendors.” 

The alliance said its recently launched Wi-Fi Certified Home Design can leverage Wi-Fi EasyMesh networks in their Wi-Fi Certified floor plans as another method to deliver integrated, uniform whole home coverage. EasyMesh networks use mechanisms from Wi-Fi Certified Agile Multiband, and user devices certified for these capabilities will experience more intelligent steering and faster network transitions for application such as Wi-Fi calling.