At CES 2016 the Wifi Alliance unveils a next generation wifi standard-- HaLow (aka 802.11ah), a standard operating on the 900Mhz designed for the low power needs of sensors and wearables.

HaLow is best described as broad yet shallow, since it offers double the range of the current 2.4GHz standard with better wall penetration and lower power consumption while providing less bandwidth. As such it is ideal for the small data payloads and low-power devices making the Internet of Things (IoT).

CES 2016 has TP-Link announce what it claims is the first 802.11ad router in the world-- the Talon AD7200, a faintly terrifying multi-pronged beast promising faster downloads at short distances.

Designed to sit on top of the existing 2.4GHz and 5GHz wifi bands, 802.11ad uses the 60GHz frequency. The Talon AD7200 features a Qualcomm chipset combining all frequencies for connection speeds reaching up to 7.2Gbp (TP-Link says it allows users to download an entire 4K movie in around 4 minutes), if with the cost of shorter distances and low wall penetration.

Extron starts shipping the DXP 1616 HD 4K and DXP 168 HD 4K-- the first two models in a high performance HDMI matrix switcher line for resolutions up to 4K (4096×2160 @30Hz at 4:4:4 and 4096×2160 @60Hz at 4:2:0).

The 16x16 and 16x8 switchers are HDCP compliant and support 10.2Gbps data rates, Deep Colour up to 12-bit, 3D and HD lossless audio formats. Extron technologies such as SpeedSwitch, Key Minder and EDID Minder, together with automatic input cable equalisation and output relocking, ensure dependable operation with "exceptional" switching speeds and device compatibility.

Crestron ships a selection of 5 HDCP 2.2-compliant DigitalMedia input and output cards-- allowing customers to upgrade DM systems to distribute HDCP 2.2 protected 4K content.

“You can’t transmit HDCP 2.2 protected 4K content unless your system has been upgraded to support it," DigitalMedia says. “The solution is not merely a firmware update. New hardware is required. The good news is, once again, we’ve anticipated potential disruptions to your AV systems, and Crestron DigitalMedia is ahead of the curve and setting the digital standard. We have what integrators need to deliver fully HDCP 2.2 compliant 4K distribution solutions right now.”

Estonian startup Velmenni starts testing Li-Fi, the light-based alternative to wifi, in the real world with a pilot program taking place in offices and industrial environments in Tallinn.

According to the company the technology already shows promise, as it reaches connection speeds of up to 1Gbps-- 100 times faster than wifi. It has been seen to go faster still, as February 2015 tests by University of Oxford researchers achieved Li-Fi speeds of 224Gbps.

"We are doing a few pilot projects within different industries where we can utilise the VLC (visible light communication) technology," Velmenni CEO Deepak Solanki tells IBTimes UK. "Currently we have designed a smart lighting solution for an industrial environment where the data communication is done through light. We are also doing a pilot project with a private client where we are setting up a Li-Fi network to access the internet in their office space."

KanexPro launches a pair of matrix switchers-- the HDMX44-4K and HDMX88-4K, both handling the switching of 4K/60Hz signals with HDCP 2.2, if with as yet unspecified colour bit depth.

The switchers are available in 4x4 and 8x8 versions. The 4x4 HDMX44-4K includes 4 inputs and 4 outputs with audio de-embedding, HDCP 2.2 and support for video resolutions up to 409x6x2160 at 60Hz. Meanwhile the 8x8 HDMX88-4K consists (predictably) of 8 inputs and 8 outputs, with the same specifications as the 4x4 version.