WiGig Allies with Wi-Fi Alliance to Boost Speeds
The Wi-Fi Alliance and the Wireless Gigabit Alliance (WiGig Alliance) will cooperate on multi-gigabit networking in the unlicensed 60 GHz band, Bruce Montag of Dell, a member of the WiGig Alliance board, said in an interview. New specifications developed would allow for data transfer at speeds of 7 Gbps or more, 10 times as fast as the fastest 802.11n Wi-Fi, he said.
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The two groups will develop a next-generation Wi-Fi Alliance certification program supporting Wi-Fi operation in the 60 GHz frequency band and focus on the development of products supporting 60 GHz technology to expand existing Wi-Fi capabilities, Montag said. The new standard completed would enable “instantaneous” file transfers, wireless display, mobile docking and the streaming of high definition audio and video on various devices, he said. The goal is to embed the technology in a host of household components including consumer electronics, handheld devices and PCs, Montag said. Companies can start developing devices on royalty-free terms, he said.
A new class of tri-band Wi-Fi devices is expected to offer multi-gigabit wireless speeds while helping to ensure backward compatibility, Montag said. That means compatible devices will be able to communicate on three bands: the 2.4GHz band used by 802.11b/g devices, the 5GHz region used by 802.11n and 60 GHz spectrum that isn’t yet being used. Most of the in-building devices aren’t operating in the 60 MHz spectrum, which would reduce interference when transmitting, Montag said. The band is available worldwide and due to the high frequency, the antennas can be very small, he noted.
The specification is a short-range, in-room technology that won’t be a Wi-Fi replacement, Montag said. WiGig is complementary to Wi-Fi, he said. The WiGig Alliance shares many member companies with the Wi-Fi Alliance. A competitor is the WirelessHD specification -- using the 60 GHz spectrum from the WirelessHD Consortium -- which also includes WiGig supporters like Broadcom and Intel, as well as companies like Samsung, Sony and Panasonic, Montag said. The supporting consortium says the WirelessHD specification will enable HDTVs, Blu-ray disc players, PCs and portable devices to transmit, share and display content and instantaneously transfer large multi-gigabyte media files among various kinds of devices.