Wi-Fi 7 update. UF portfolio X-ray and roadmap.

NaviGator changes the workload. Wi-Fi 7 was designed for the triangle.

NaviGator delivers AI to every student device — a workload that did not exist when O'Connell's Wi-Fi 5 hardware was specified in 2017.

Cisco Catalyst Wi-Fi 7 802.11be

CW9176I-B

Intelligent Wi-Fi 7 for higher density, greater performance, and simpler operations.

Tri-band 2.4 / 5 / 6 GHz

6 GHz Ready

MLO Multi-link

320 MHz Channels

Explore Capabilities

04 CAPABILITIES — hover to expand

Inner-scale flood · color emerges from within

M

Tech 01

Technology 01

MLO

Multi-Link Operation

Use multiple bands at once for lower latency, higher reliability, and faster application performance.

3^bands

2.4 + 5 + 6 GHz
aggregated

Lot · 12K UF Bowl · sessions

Best for:Campus events and stadium-scale density

Technology 01

MLO

3 highways

Simultaneous 2.4 + 5 + 6 GHz for each device. Bandwidth aggregation + instant band failover — no controller round-trip.

UF Bowl: 12,000 simultaneous sessions stay connected at tipoff.

Open

320

Tech 02

Technology 02

320 MHz

Channels

Wider channels deliver more capacity and better efficiency across Wi-Fi 7 client devices.

2×

vs Wi-Fi 6E
160 MHz max

Lot · 2× Spectrum width

Best for:High-bitrate video and immersive media

Technology 02

320 MHz

2× highway width

Double the highway width vs Wi-Fi 6/6E's 160 MHz max. More spectrum, more simultaneous throughput.

UF Bowl: absorbs broadcast video + IoT + guest streaming in the same window.

Open

4K

Tech 03

Technology 03

4K-QAM

Modulation

Pack more data into every transmission for meaningful gains in throughput in clean RF conditions.

4,096^states

vs Wi-Fi 6
1,024 states

Lot · +20% Throughput uplift

Best for:AI workloads and data-intensive endpoints

Technology 03

4K-QAM

+20% throughput

4,096 amplitude/phase states vs 1,024 in Wi-Fi 6. ~20% throughput uplift in clean RF environments.

UF AI: richer payloads to HiPerGator inference endpoints.

Open

RU

Tech 04

Technology 04

OFDMA

+ Multi-RU

Efficient scheduling with smarter airtime use for hundreds of users and devices.

200⁺

device density
per room

Lot · 200+ Devices per room

Best for:Classrooms and building-wide connectivity

Technology 04

Multi-RU

200+ devices

Smarter airtime slicing among many small clients simultaneously. No rationing, no head-of-line blocking.

UF Classrooms: 200+ device density behaves like a designed network.

Open

The fleet today — and its lifecycle clocks.

10,000 APs · 1,344 switch stacks · 14 WLCs · 30 buildings. The control plane is already Wi-Fi 7-ready; the urgency lives in the access layer's lifecycle window. 99.6% of the fleet enters refresh cycle within 5 years — and 78.2% just hit Cisco's EOL15855 bulletin in March/2026.

A 32 000-seat venue. Mixed workloads — guest streaming, point-of-sale, IoT, broadcast. One ceiling.

310 APs. ~25 switches. One adjacency map.

The replacement matrix is concrete — every zone has a target SKU and a corresponding switch refresh. The adjacency map shows what is added vs leveraged, and where the visibility lives.

Cisco Wi-Fi 7 is already on the field at the venues that define live density.

Four publicly named Cisco Wi-Fi 7 deployments — covering Super Bowl-scale stadiums, championship sports events, multi-purpose arenas, and the direct higher-ed peer. UF would join a proven cohort, not chase a category.

Arena first. Wi-Fi 5. Wi-Fi 6 indoor. Outdoor.

Four stages mapped to where the refresh happens, not when it ends. Cards 02–04 partition the 10,000-AP fleet by generation and class · FY2027 → FY2028.