Yet another wireless technology has been finalized by its backers, this one promising even faster speeds than current Wi-Fi specs.
The new WiGig standard has been finalized by the Wireless Gigabit Alliance, a group comprised of such heavy hitters as Intel, Dell, NEC, Toshiba, and Microsoft. WiGig promises speeds as fast as 7 gigabits per second, about ten times quicker than Wireless N (802.11n).
But don't get ready to throw out your existing Wi-Fi network. WiGig will only work over short distances, for instance, within a single room. So it's not designed to replace 802.11, but rather supplement it.
As such, its backers see WiGig as the right technology to wirelessly connect home media equipment, such as PCs, mobile devices, TVs, and video and audio players. Its speed could make WiGig the ideal platform for wirelessly streaming high-definition video to TVs and computers. It's also backward compatible with existing Wi-Fi standards.
"When we launched the WiGig Alliance in May, we announced our plan to complete the industry's first unified 60 GHz specification by Q4 2009, and we are proud to deliver on this promise to the industry," said Dr. Ali Sadri, president and chairman of the Wireless Gigabit Alliance. "We're rapidly paving the way for the introduction of the next generation of high‐performance wireless products--PCs, mobile handsets, TVs and displays, Blu‐ray disc players, digital cameras, and many more."
WiGig will run over the 60GHz spectrum, an unlicensed frequency relatively unused at this point. The spec joins an already growing superfast streaming WiFi playing field that includes WirelessHD and Wireless Home Digital Interface (WHDI).
Launched in May with 15 members, the WiGig Alliance has since doubled in size with four new companies joining this past quarter. Nvidia has been added to its board of directors, while AMD, SK Telecom, and TMC have jumped on board as contributor members.
The group said the WiGig specification is now ready for member review and is likely to be available to members who want to push it out by the first quarter of next year.
Goodbye, FlyWire: The now-cancelled product will never see store shelves.
(Credit: Belkin)Belkin will not be releasing its FlyWire wireless HDMI accessory.
CNET has learned that the company has decided not to offer the FlyWire for sale. A Belkin spokesperson confirmed the product's cancellation, saying that "its retail price of $1,499 would be out of line given the current state of the economy."
The FlyWire was introduced at CES 2008. The unit was a transmitter/receiver combo: the transmitter toggled between multiple audio and video sources (HDMI and analog), which were then wirelessly beamed to a receiver. Since the tiny receiver required only AC power and utilized a single HDMI output, it could be stealthily mounted behind wall-mounted flat screens or ceiling mounted projectors, eliminating the need for long unsightly cable runs. At one point, Belkin was mulling two versions: an initial high-end, multiroom-capable $1,499 version for multiple AV sources, followed by a less pricey single-source transmitter.
Early demos of the FlyWire impressed us--enough that we nominated it as a finalist in the Home Video category for Best of CES 2008. (It was edged out by the Dish Network DTVPal DVR.) But the FlyWire's premature death is just another indication that wireless HDMI technology is all but stillborn at the consumer level. Other notable no-shows, at least so far: the Philips wireless HDMI kit (introduced January 2007) and the Monster Express HD System (announced summer 2008).
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Intel, Microsoft, Nokia, Dell, and Panasonic are among several companies teaming up to form the Wireless Gigabit Alliance, a group that will push a new wireless standard for transmitting data over short distances at gigabit speeds.
The new WiGig standard will transmit data at around 6 gigabits per second, which is much faster than current versions of Wi-Fi. The speedy wireless technology should easily be able to deliver high-definition video between computers and TV set-top boxes.
But because the technology only transmits over shorter distances, it will primarily be used within a single room to provide wireless connectivity between home entertainment equipment. Meanwhile, Wi-Fi transmits slower signals over longer distances and can provide wireless connectivity throughout an entire home.
WiGig isn't the only wireless technology that has been designed to carry high-definition video wirelessly between devices. WirelessHD was created to transmit data video between set-top boxes and Blu-ray players. And a technology called Wireless Home Digital Interface, or WHDi, also uses technology that is similar to Wi-Fi to deliver high-speed wireless service. Ultrawideband technology has also been kicking around for years as a solution for transmitting big data loads across wireless networks.
So far none of these other technologies has taken off. But that could change. As more people sign up for high-definition TV service and as they try to stream video content from the Web to their TVs, there will be an increasing need for short-range wireless technologies to get the content from one device to another device in the living room.
And WiGig might have a better chance of being the wireless technology of choice, considering the long list of important technology companies supporting it. These backers include chipmakers Atheros, Broadcom, Marvell, and MediaTek, which are on the Wireless Gigabit Alliance's board of directions. Dell, LG Electronics, Samsung, and NEC are also on the board and are backing the technology. And Intel has several executives involved in the alliance including Ali Sadri, the group's chairman.
The WiGig standard will use the 60GHz frequency band, which is also used by WirelessHD. This unlicensed band of wireless frequency is mostly unused right now. Since many of the companies involved in the WiGig Alliance also helped contribute to standards for 802.11 Wi-Fi, it's likely that there will be some collaboration between the WiGig Alliance and the Wi-Fi Alliance.
A standard for the new technology should be ready late in 2009. And products could start hitting the market as early as next year.
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