CES 2019 sees D-Link announce a range of 802.11ac Exo routers and extenders, all featuring mesh networking support as well as the addition of 2 years of McAfee end-to-end protection.

Routers on show at CES include the AC3000, AC2600, AC1900, AC1750 and AC1300. Also on show are the AC2000 and AC1300 extenders. All are mesh-enabled and complete with easier plug-and-play setup and easier endpoint additions. The routers and endpoints include a gigabit wired port, while the routers ship with support for both Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa. Powering the routers is a 880MHz dual-core processor.

Ubiquiti Networks presents the AmpliFI HD Gamer's Edition-- a version of the AmpliFi HD mesh networking system featuring Nvidia co-branding and what the company claims is firmware optimised for cloud gaming services (such as Nvidia's GeForce NOW).

"Ubiquiti is excited to be launching our first router designed specifically with the gamer in mind. AmpliFi Gamer delivers an amazing whole-home online gaming experience, the result of combining Ubiquiti's technology leadership in networking and Wi-Fi with NVIDIA's strong expertise in gaming and streaming," the company says. "Gamers demand perfection and AmpliFi HD Gamer's Edition is a great solution for improving network-intense cloud gaming sessions."

Valve announces the Steam Link is no more, having sold out of the device in Europe and "almost" sold out in the US-- and it appears the company has no plans to make more.

Announced back in March 2015, the Steam Link is essentially a small HDMI box allowing users to stream games from the Steam Library (as well as non-Steam games added to the library) on PC to any TV in the home. It offers 1080p resolution streams at 60fps through either ethernet or 802.11ac wifi, and includes x3 USB ports, Bluetooth 4.0 and support for a number of wireless joypads, such as the Steam Controller and Xbox One or 360 controllers.

Netgear announces a pair of 802.11ax AX6000 routers-- the 8-stream Nighthawk RAX80 and the 12-stream RAX120, both using the 2.4 and 5GHz bands and support for OFDMA (orthogonal frequency-division multiple access) on the uplink and downlink.

The RAX80 is based on the Broadcom BCM49408 SoC. It features two 802.11ax radios together with a 1.8GHz quad-core ARMv8 processor and an 800MHz network packet co-processor. The radios are in a 4x4:4 configuration, with one handling 2.4GHz duties (bgn+ax, with 40 MHz channels for 1150 Mbps of theoretical throughput), and the other the 5GHz channel (an+ac+ax, with 160 MHz channel support for 4800 Mbps of theoretical throughput).

With online privacy concerns at an all time high, customers might be interested in the Helm-- a personal home server to handle sensitive online business such as email, calendar and contacts.

The Helm is a triangular device around the size of a router. It carries 128GB of storage (with a tray allowing customers to add up to 5TB) and features a physical security key beneath a small removable cover. The key connects to the Helm via USB-C port, and handles the encryption of emails and other files. The Helm can also create backup keys on smartphones, just in case the physical key gets lost.

The Wifi Alliance announces a shakeup of wireless networking name conventions as it announces Wifi 6-- the next generation of wifi connectivity bringing about further capacity and performance, with lower power consumption.

Wifi 6 is what what we formerly known as the 802.11ax standard. Essentially the alliance realised the current wifi naming convention only leads to user confusion, bringing the need for simpler system. Thus, Wifi 1 is the very first version of the standard, 1999's 802.11b. It was followed by 802.11a, now known as Wifi 2. Wifi 3 is 802.11g, Wifi 4 is 802.11n and Wifi 5 is the version currently in use, 2014's 802.11ac.

The alliance plans to push the branding even in software, with devices showing which version of wifi they are currently connected to. As a result users can choose the superior wifi network, since it is obvious the network with a "5" is better than the one with a "4."

Gaming hardware maker Razer takes on networking with the Sila-- a tri-band AC3000 router the company promises is the fastest wifi around, with a FasTrack engine able to prioritise bandwidth for gaming purposes.

The Sila handles one 2.4GHz band at up to 400Mbps, and two 5GHz bands at up to 1733Mbps and 866Mbps. The surprisingly clutter-free design hides 9 antennas, while the software is able to detect consoles, determine if a PC is playing games and reserve bandwidth for gaming. In addition, a multi-channel zero-wait DFS system claims to eliminate network congestion issues caused by neighbouring wifi networks.

Huawei goes for a misleading moniker with the AI Cube-- the device is technically a cylinder, but it does make an interesting combination of smart speaker, 4G modem and wifi router.

The result of a Huawei-Amazon collaboration presented at IFA 2018, the AI Cube runs on Alexa and promises a more convenient way to both connect to the internet and control smart devices. A slot for an LTE SIM card makes it a 4G hot spot, while an ethernet port allows use as an 802.11ac wifi router. The router is dual-band, working on the 2.4 and 5GHz bands, and transmits data over LAN at up to 1200Mbps.