Julio Urquidi
News Editor
Marvell's 11ax portfolio includes two, four and eight stream devices. The 88W9068 is a 5 GHz only 8x8 for high-end access points and wireless routers. The 88W9064 is a dual-band 4x4 AP/router device for "mainstream" products. The dual-band 2x2 88W9064S moves down-market even further, targeting service provider and set-top boxes. No solution for mobile devices was announced.
All devices will also support 1024 QAM, off-channel spectrum scanning, dedicated in-service monitoring and precision location. Integrated Bluetooth will also be available for the dual band 88W9064 and 88W9064S SoCs.
Marvell is attempting to distance itself from its competitors by emphasizing support for both downlink and uplink MU-MIMO and OFDMA. All 11ax chipsets announced to date have claimed "support" for uplink MU-MIMO. But Broadcom, Qualcomm and Quantenna have all said it will not be enabled in the first products to ship.
Marvell's announcement follows 11ax introductions from Broadcom, Qualcomm and Quantenna. Broadcom announced two 4-stream AP/router devices and a 2-stream mobile device. Qualcomm's lineup includes an 8x8 5 GHz/4x4 2.4 GHz AP/router SoC and 2x2 client device. Quantenna has gone with yet a different approach with a tri-radio 4x4 11ax device aimed at 11ax mesh products.
Marvell said it has been sampling to "lead customers from early 2017". One of these customers is likely to be Linksys, whose VP of Engineering was quoted in Marvell's release. Linksys' top-end WRT router line is based on Marvell platforms.
Marvell will be featuring its 11ax device portfolio at next month’s CES in Las Vegas.