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AzureWave @ Computex 2011: Going beyond WiFi -> WiGig
With high-speed wireless internet connectivity fast moving up the rungs from a luxury to a basic neccessity these days, it was only a matter of time before a company would attempt to one-up the industry by introducing the first known wireless communication device that boasts data transfer speeds capable of putting the existing 802.11n's rate to shame. Today, we had the chance to see that particular device, and it comes in the form of a certain half-height mini-PCIe card from AzureWave...
Have you heard of WiGig? Well, here is a brief description of the technology in a nutshell: simply put, it is a new standard which allows for wireless networking devices to communicate at gigabit speeds via the unlicensed 60GHz band, while maintaining compatibility with existing 802.11 standards. And as we all know by now, true gigabit speeds are only attainable by utilizing cutting edge fiber-optic cables.
Needless to say, the idea of being able to take advantage of such high-speed connections without having to deal with fragile fibre cables is definitely appealing, except for one little issue: there are no known devices out in the wild that are reportedly capable with this new standard. Until today, that is, for AzureWave has just unveiled what it claims is the world's first fully-integrated WiGig multi-gigabit wireless chipset.
According to AzureWave, the current model that is available on display at their booth this year makes use of an Atheros chipset (Wilocity has a partnership with Atheros to produce such chipsets), although future versions are likely to utilize wireless chipsets from a variety of other manufacturers as soon as they are available.
