Get Ready for WiGig Wireless Speeds Up to 7 Gbps
The two industry groups said that they will share technology specification for the creation of a Wi-Fi Alliance certification for operation at 60 GHz. Current Wi-Fi network supports 2.4 and 5 GHz. Downward compatibility to the current spec is expected in many devices that will support WiGig.
Tri-Band Wi-Fi
The top transmission rate of 7 Gbps is more than ten times faster than the highest 802.11N Wi-Fi rate. The organizations said that protocol adaptation layers, now in development, will support different device architectures, including PC data buses and displays such as HD TVs, monitors, and projectors.
"From its inception," said Wi-Fi Alliance CEO Edgar Figueroa in a statement, "the WiGig specification was designed to work on a wide variety of devices." The process now moves to definition of the interoperability and certification standards, and for adoption of WiGig in products for home and business.
Both organizations have been working toward faster transmission protocols, and both share many member companies in common. For example, Cisco, Dell, Intel, Microsoft, NEC, and Panasonic are members of both groups.
The spec itself defines protocols for data transfer in the gigabit range, and it also indicates the hand-over procedure so that devices can operate in the lower bands. The organizations said they expected the new standard and the certification process will result in a new category of tri-band Wi-Fi Certified devices, capable of operating at 60, 5, and 2.4 GHz.
What Kind of Apps?
One question is what kind of applications used in homes and businesses could benefit from such high wireless speeds. Avi Greengart, an analyst with industry research firm Current Analysis, pointed to synchronization of content as one possible use case. He noted that most synchronization between devices takes place over wires, and often requires the transfer of large files such as music or video. He noted that another possible use is backup to a central hard drive, which again often utilizes wires. Both of these utility services could become an automated occurrence for every device -- and, if widely adopted, very high local transmission speeds could mean that virtually every device becomes wireless.
This could also include high-definition TVs, Blu-ray DVD players, and HD cameras that didn''t rely on wires for their display. Standards for that purpose have already been developed by such groups as the WirelessHD Alliance, but they are just being adopted.
"Buying a movie on your set-top box and transferring it to your iPad" could also become a common and automated event, Greengart said. But, he cautioned, don''t expect this kind of super Wi-Fi "anytime soon." Although the alliances are projecting that the first products with the new standard could start appearing within two years, Greengart pointed out that "these kind of things usually take a long time."
