Marvell Partners Wilocity to Produce Tri-band Wi-Fi Chip with Top Speed of 7Gbps

Marvell Partners Wilocity to Produce Tri-band Wi-Fi Chip with Top Speed of 7Gbps

Wireless transmissions are about to make that huge leap from dual-band to tri-band. According to Ars Technica's report, Marvell has announced that it will be partnering Israeli startup, Wilocity, to manufacture tri-band WLAN chips that operate on the 2.4GHz, 5GHz, and 60GHz bands. Promoted by the WiGig Alliance, the 802.11ad Wi-Fi standard is said to offer devilish peak throughput speeds of up to 7Gbps. 

Sameer Bidichandani, Senior Director of Technology Strategy at Marvell Semiconductor Inc, has this to say: "60GHz wireless is an exciting in-room multi-Gigabit Wi-Fi technology that enhances end users’ wireless experience and has the potential to eliminate more wires from consumers’ homes. We look forward to collaborating with Wilocity to deliver cutting-edge WiGig products to the market that maintain compatibility with hundreds of millions of existing Wi-Fi devices."

Hardware makers are in the midst of upgrading their line-up of routers to the 802.11ac standard with a higher throughput on the 5GHz band, compared to the existing 802.11n standard with a 600Mbps bottleneck. With the introduction of 802.11ad-based chips, expected next year, consumers will be able to enjoy accelerated data-transfers as well as improved media streaming throughput on the relatively uncluttered 60GHz frequency.

Although the initial wave of 802.11ad chipsets will offer support for the 802.11n standard, including the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands, they will not, however, support the 802.11ac standard on the 5GHz band. Apart from the alliance formed between Marvell and Wilocity, two additional startup firms, Beam Networks and Peraso Technologies, allegedly have plans to launch their own 802.11ad chips in the next six to nine months as well.

Source: Ars Technica, EE Times, EE Web