Qualcomm’s press conference wrapped up a short while ago. The most relevant news for SmallNetBuilder readers was the announcement of its Network IoT Connectivity Platform and enhancements to its Network Wi-Fi SON platform that most all "mesh" Wi-Fi systems to date have been built upon.
But in its listing of Network Wi-Fi SON partner products, the company named D-Link Covr, TP-Link Deco Whole-Home Wi-Fi Systems, and ASUS HiveDot and HiveSpot "announced at CES 2017" that we don’t yet know about, in addition to eero, Luma, NETGEAR Orbi and just-announced Linksys Velop systems that have been announced.
Those pre-announcements aside, Qualcomm’s Network IoT Connectivity platform is said to enable compatible and simultaneous use of Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, CSRmesh connectivity, and 802.15.4-based technologies across a network. It also supports previously announced communication protocols, cloud services and software frameworks, allowing it to act as a universal translator.
The Network Wi-Fi SON enhancements include support for both wired and powerline-based networks, expanded support for multi-hop network topologies and support for systems based on MIPS processors.
The multi-hop enhancements make it sound like its support to date was fairly limited. The enhancements are "designed to ensure a wider potential range of successful Wi-Fi SON implementations" by enabling true mesh vs. star topologies.