W-Fi is a crucial part of what allows our digital world to keep spinning, and today, the Wi-Fi Alliance announced a brand-new standard to ensure it's as easy-to-use as can be — EasyMesh.
Mesh Wi-Fi systems like Google Wifi and Eero are becoming increasingly more popular, and with EasyMesh, hardware from different brands will be able to work with one another.
Let's say you've currently got Eero but want to give Google Wifi a shot. With EasyMesh, you could buy one Google Wifi router and connect it with your existing Eero ones — allowing you to mix and match systems to your heart's content.
EasyMesh is a great idea, but there's no guarantee it'll see wide adoption. Companies aren't required to add EasyMesh to their routers, and as The Verge points out, businesses love keeping consumers in their own ecosystems. Even so, the Wi-Fi Alliance remains optimistic that EasyMesh will catch on. As noted by Kevin Robinson, the Vice President of the Alliance —
That intelligence is where the differentiation is going to be. It opens up opportunities to use new controllers with existing equipment if someone develops more intelligence around managing the network.
Along with EasyMesh, there's also news regarding WPA3 — the successor to WPA2. WPA3 will provide users with enhanced security measures even if the password for their network is less-than-stellar, data privacy when using a public/shared Wi-Fi network, and a "more seamless onboarding experience." Qualcomm's announced that it'll begin integrating WPA3 across its entire lineup of mobile and networking hardware, with Senior Vice President and General Manager of Connectivity & Networking, Rahul Patel, saying —
By adopting the latest in encryption technology to protect Wi-Fi connected products from security attacks, Qualcomm Technologies helps customers build products that not only deliver the industry's latest technologies to the market, but adopt the most advanced security standard available.
If you own a smartphone with Qualcomm's Snapdragon 845 processor at the heart of it, you can expect WPA3 to be added at some point this summer.
