In today’s digital world, performance is king. Organizations like yours run on applications with business-critical tools requiring ever-increasing bandwidth. This is especially true for end-user devices that require high-performance Wi-Fi connections. Slow connections affect user experience, reduce productivity, and can impact the bottom line.

Wi-Fi 7 is a new standard that provides a leap forward in wireless connectivity, offering several times more throughput for bandwidth-hungry applications and devices. And to support your transition to this new protocol, Fortinet has just announced a new Wi-Fi 7–enabled access point (AP), the FortiAP 441K, and the new FortiSwitch T1024 model that provides 10 Gigabit Ethernet access and 90W Power over Ethernet (PoE) to support Wi-Fi 7 bandwidth requirements at the edge. These new devices deliver the cutting-edge wireless performance today’s enterprises require. And as a part of the Fortinet Secure Networking solution, they seamlessly integrate with AIOps and FortiGuard AI-Powered Security Services for unmatched security, visibility, and control.

Figure 1: The FortiAP 441K is Fortinet's first Wi-Fi 7—enabled access point.

The Power of Wi-Fi 7

Under the hood, Wi-Fi 7 can quadruple the performance capabilities of Wi-Fi 6, providing 4K-QAM vs the 1K of the previous standard. (Quadrature amplitude modulation [QAM] is a technique that combines two amplitude modulation [AM] signals into a single channel, effectively doubling available bandwidth.) It also supports 320 MHz channels, allowing for a LOT more throughput. And while Wi-Fi 6 also supported all 3 Wi-Fi bands (2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, and 6 GHz), a client could ONLY ever be associated with a single band. The new Multi-Link Operation (MLO) supported in Wi-Fi 7 allows a client to be associated with and pass traffic on multiple channels, allowing a client to use, for example, one band for uplink and another for downlink. It also enables things like videoconferencing systems to keep low power association on 2.4 GHz but leverage other bands for high data throughput.

Wi-Fi 7 also supports a technique known as Punctured Transmission that allows the AP to effectively transmit “around” an interference source. This strategy allows APs and clients to use the available spectrum in a channel and maintain transmission speeds in multi-user scenarios without dropping signals. It also utilizes Multiple Resource Unit Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (Multi-RU OFMDA) to establish independently modulating subcarriers within frequencies. This allows for simultaneous transmissions to and from multiple clients, effectively enabling APs to serve multiple users with different amounts of data consumption. When paired, these two techniques can maximize throughput in environments where congestion and interference would otherwise compromise Wi-Fi 6 implementations.

FortiAP 441K: Fortinet’s first Wi-Fi 7–enabled AP

The FortiAP 441K leverages the Wi-Fi 7 Qualcomm® Networking Pro 1220 Platform from Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., a leading wireless technology innovator at the forefront of the development of Wi-Fi 7, to deliver incredible performance and connectivity to wireless devices. Here is a quick overview of its specs:

• Four Wi-Fi radios in each device

• One radio each for 2.4GHz, 5GHz, and 6GHz bands

• One radio to scan for rogue devices (security) or to assist with presence

• Four spatial streams with four transmit and four receive chains (a 4x4 AP)

• Support for new Wi-Fi 7 features, such as MLO, 4K QAM, puncturing, and 320 MHz channels discussed above

• Dual 10 Gig uplink ports

• Built-in BLE/ZigBee radio

• Built-in GPS radio

Networks Cannot Live on Wi-Fi 7 Alone

The potential for Wi-Fi 7 to impact user experience and productivity is significant. But like any performance-enhancing innovation, it is only as good as the network in which it is deployed. Given the throughput demands of Wi-Fi 7, this is likely the first time most organizations will see a strong need for 10 Gig edge devices that also include high-power PoE capability. The FortiSwitch T1024 models Fortinet has just introduced are designed to provide 24 x 10 Gig ports and 90W PoE to fully support the performance and power needs of our new Wi-Fi 7 APs.

Figure 2: The FortiSwitch T1024 provides 24 x 10 Gig ports and 90W PoE.

And, of course, security is absolutely essential. New technologies like Wi-Fi 7 can expand an organization’s attack surface, and the challenge is that most legacy security solutions already struggle to provide the inspection and enforcement that current access points require. Fortinet is one of the few vendors to provide edge security solutions that can ensure zero-trust connectivity, inspect WPA3-encrypted traffic and monitor streaming video without impacting connectivity at Wi-Fi 7 speeds—and the only one that can do so affordably. Our FortiGate solutions natively provide zero-trust network access to ensure secure, per-application access to the network.

And with the only ASIC-enhanced devices on the market, FortiGate Next-Generation Firewall (NGFW) appliances deliver an average of 15x more performance than equivalently priced solutions from competitors.

Why Fortinet

Fortinet is deeply committed to innovation. It’s why we have remained at the forefront of the cybersecurity industry for more than two decades, delivering more security devices to organizations worldwide than any other vendor. This commitment has enabled us to anticipate and help organizations prepare for every major evolution in networking since our inception, including the need for vendor and solution consolidation through an integrated security platform, the original development of the NGFW, support for IT/OT convergence, the implementation of advanced AI solutions across our portfolio, and the integration of security and networking into a unified solution to better address the demands of today’s modern networks and thwart increasingly sophisticated cybercriminals.

Today’s announced support for Wi-Fi 7 with new APs and edge switches underscores our commitment to enabling organizations to adopt the technologies they require to compete effectively in today’s digital marketplace—without compromising on performance, security, or user experience.