KEY TAKEAWAYS

1. It is estimated that each person in North America will have 13 or more connected devices by 2022, and demands are increasing for high-resolution content streaming, gaming and more.

2. The collaboration between Intel and Comcast will deliver faster speeds, more capacity and responsive networks that will bring new immersive experiences to millions of people, including during the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020.

3. Comcast is also working with Intel to implement a modern and adaptable infrastructure to more quickly roll out new and enhanced services to millions of people.

We’re excited to share details of an exciting collaboration with Intel to redefine connectivity and deliver groundbreaking new experiences to customers. A version of the following announcement was originally published by Intel.

What’s New: Intel and Comcast are collaborating to redefine connectivity into and within the home, the companies announced today at CES. The partnership is focused on enabling gigabit and beyond broadband, enhancing wireless within the home, and building a modern and adaptable infrastructure.

“The next wave of powerful connectivity to the home and within the home becomes more real today through the partnership between Intel and Comcast. We are working together to lay the foundation for more powerful home networks and an intelligent network infrastructure that makes new immersive experiences possible.

--Gregory Bryant, Intel senior vice president and general manager of the Client Computing Group

“With connectivity increasingly at the center of our homes and lives, we’re focusing on redefining what people should expect from broadband service, delivering world-class speed, comprehensive Wi-Fi coverage and unique tools for customers to control their digital lives. Through our partnership with Intel we’re not only delivering outstanding connected home experiences today, we’re building a platform to power the ultra-connected future”.

--Tony Werner, President Technology, Product, Xperience, Comcast Cable

Why It Matters: It is estimated that each person in North America will have 13 or more connected devices by 20221, and demands are increasing for high-resolution content streaming, gaming and more. The collaboration between Intel and Comcast will deliver faster speeds, more capacity and responsive networks that will bring new immersive experiences to millions of viewers of NBC’s Coverage of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.  

What it Looks Like:

Delivering the benefits of gigabit Wi-Fi speeds in the home requires both gigabit network speeds and PCs with 160MHz technology. At CES, Intel and Comcast are showing how it’s possible to deliver gigabit speeds from Comcast’s xFi* Advanced Gateways to PCs based on 8th Gen Intel® Core™ processors with integrated gigabit Wi-Fi.  People will soon realize the potential of Wi-Fi with up to 12-times2 faster connectivity speeds for faster sharing, streaming and downloading. This makes it possible to smoothly stream 4K video, easily download and share large files, take gaming to the next level and enjoy high resolution video conferencing.

In addition, Intel and Comcast are working together to drive the adoption of Wi-Fi 6 – the next giant leap in Wi-Fi technology that is projected to deliver much faster and more responsive Wi-Fi. Comcast and Intel are working together to develop Wi-Fi 6-enabled technologies that are designed to deliver the fastest, best Wi-Fi customers have ever experienced.

In the future, homes with 50 or more devices and new life-changing technologies ranging from connected health to augmented reality will drive unprecedented demand for increased speed and capacity. For this next wave of gigabit broadband, Intel is working with Comcast and the world’s leading cable operators to develop a global standard for 10gigabit technology that will bring low latency, multi-gigabit (up to 10 Gbps) performance and symmetrical upload and download speeds. Intel will deliver 10 Gigabit ready technology from the network infrastructure to home gateways to support the rollout.

Comcast is also working with Intel to implement a modern and adaptable infrastructure to more quickly roll out new and enhanced services to millions of people. Intel® Xeon® processors are helping Comcast deliver richer, real-time media and virtualize its network to cost effectively manage capacity in real time. The virtualization of Comcast’s video and data platforms is in trials in multiple cities and will be scaled throughout Comcast’s network. Intel-based remote physical layer (PHY) devices will help Comcast deliver bandwidth on demand and further improve video quality as it rolls out multi-gigabit speeds.

"The next wave of powerful connectivity to the home and within the home becomes more real today through the partnership between Intel and Comcast."

Gregory Bryant, Intel senior vice president and general manager of the Client Computing Group

What It Will Enable:

• Sports and entertainment content: The distribution of cutting-edge immersive content across sports and entertainment, to deliver viewing experiences like never before, starting with NBC’s coverage of the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020.
• VR Gaming: A new tier of responsive VR gaming experiences by optimizing the graphics processing between PCs and home gateway or network edge.
• Volumetric content: Using Intel® RealSense™ technology and Intel Xeon® processor-based servers, Comcast will be able to cost effectively capture, process and deliver volumetric content in real time for smaller scale implementations - like training videos – to make high quality three- dimensional video content accessible to a broader set of people.
• 360 video: With Intel’s video and networking expertise, Intel Xeon® processor-based servers and Intel’s graphics accelerators, Comcast will expand its rich media services and deliver more immersive content, such as streaming high resolution 8K content.

"Through our partnership with Intel we’re not only delivering outstanding connected home experiences today, we’re building a platform to power the ultra-connected future."

Tony Werner, President Technology, Product, Xperience, Comcast Cable

When I Can Get It: Comcast is evolving its network so that more people can start to experience Gigabit Wi-Fi speeds. At CES, Comcast is showing the capacity to deliver gigabit speeds from its xFi Advanced Gateways to PCs based on 8th Gen Intel® Core™ processors with integrated Gigabit Wi-Fi. Forthcoming advancements in Wi-Fi 6 are expected to enable a new level of home Wi-Fi that can handle the demands of many connected devices. Intel is a key technology partner as Comcast tests new 10 Gigabit technology in their labs today and starts trialing it in customer homes as early as spring 2020.

¹ Source: Cisco VNI, 2018. https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/solutions/collateral/service-provider/visual-networking-index-vni/white-paper-c11-741490.html

² As measured by over the air TCP throughput on an Intel Reference Platform with Intel® Core™ i7-8565U Processor and Intel® Wireless-AC 9560 module (with 2×2 160MHz channels) vs. an OEM Intel® Core™ i5-4200U system with 1×1 BGN (150Mbps), placed within range of 3 meters from the access point with enabling Gigabit Wi-Fi technologies. A PC equipped with Gigabit Wi-Fi achieves speeds up to 1733Mbps. 802.11ac 2x2 160MHz enables 1733 Mbps maximum theoretical data rates, 2X faster than standard 802.11ac 2x2 80MHz (867Mbps) and nearly 12x faster than baseline 1x1 BGN (150Mbps) Wi-Fi as documented in IEEE 802.11 wireless standard specifications, and require the use of similarly configured 802.11ac wireless network routers or better. To achieve Gigabit wireless speeds the network requires a wireless router/access point that supports 160MHz channels.