Howdy folks,
These past few years, Asus has typically released one major firmware update every year. In 2012 they introduced an update which added AiCloud, and they eventually implemented it across older routers that were powerful enough to support it. In 2013, they added TimeMachine, OpenVPN, and VPN client support.
2014 seems no different. Asus is currently finalizing various major changes to their Asuswrt firmware, which should be introduced in the next couple of months.
At this point, it is unsure which router model will get which new feature. Keep in mind that some of these features require more CPU power or memory than is available on older routers such as the RT-N16. I would expect most (if not all) of these features to be available on at least the newer dual core routers such as the RT-AC56U and RT-AC68U, in addition to their next flagship routers announced at CES and Computex.
Just a preview of some of these changes people should expect in the coming months:
Whole new QoS engine (I tested it with speedtest.net + a concurrent torrent, and it worked beautifully, with a minimum of configuration required - my torrent dropped to next to 0 as the speedtest.net reported my full 30 Mbits link capability).
Improved Networkmap
Improved realtime traffic monitoring of your network clients
Improved Parental Control settings (you will be able to control more than just the time at which they can access the Internet).
New Internet security features, based on multiple technologies including DPI (this is what Asus called AiProtection at the recent Computex), bringing protection against port scanning, known malware menaces, etc...
There's currently no ETA from Asus beside "in the coming months", and I assume these features might still change before their release (which is why I won't go into further details at this point), but this will give you an idea of what to expect in the near future.
