Quantenna rides 4x4 MIMO into home network

Quantenna Communications, the first company to debut a 4x4 multiple input/multiple output Wi-Fi chip almost two years ago, announced availability this week for the third-generation of that chip, aimed at home Wi-Fi networks to enable support of whole-home video distribution and other home network applications. 

The third-generation 802.11n chip cuts the power consumption by a third and the size of the chip by half compared with previous generations. It also expands channel bandwidth to 80MHz, which David French, CEO of Quantenna, said positions the chip to be used in gear that will support future Wi-Fi standards, such as the 802.11ac standard for 1.2 Gb/s performance.

But for now the target is supporting video content that seems ready to run rampant through consumer homes with the advent of multi-room DVR services, hybrid online video and TV applications, and new feature-rich software, such as the just announced Google TV suite.

“We think this is something the service providers will want for their evolving IPTV or cable TV environments,” French said. “Home networks are moving to the point where they want support for a minimum of 50 Mb/s so they can do TV and a couple streams of HD.”

Wi-Fi chips with 4x4 MIMO were unheard of before Quantenna’s first-generation chip in 2008, and most Wi-Fi home networking gear that supports video still uses 3x3 MIMO configurations. Netgear is among the Wi-Fi equipment companies that have used Quantenna’s 4x4 chip.

The third-generation chip comes at a time when home network and whole-home video developments are increasingly taking a wireless slant. Ruckus Wireless was one of the first companies to position Wi-Fi as an alternative to wireline home network technologies like HomePNA, Multimedia over Coax and HomePlug. Now as WiFi performance and throughput continues to improve and reliability is further enhanced with MIMO and beam-forming techniques, Wi-Fi is becoming a more viable choice.

In fact, French said Quantenna’s technology is meant to be complimentary to evolving short-range, single-room wireless configurations such as WirelessHD, Wireless Home Digital Interface and WiGig. “You might have something like that from the DVR to the TV on the wall in one room and then have something like our technology as the backbone of the home configuration,” French said. “We don’t think this will necessarily replace wireline where it already is supporting video, but we can enable the ‘no new wires’ mantra that many service providers now have in mind.”