Earlier this year, we got to see the first implementations of the IEEE 802.11ac specification take stage at CES, which promised wireless networking at speeds as high as 1.3 Gbps. On the sidelines, consumer electronics major Panasonic has been developing a gigabit speed wireless networking technology of its own. Called the WiGig, this technology provides up to 1 Gbps network bandwidth, but to achieve that, devices need to be within a range of 3 meters. The technology uses 60 GHz high-frequency band to transmit and receive data.

While its low 3 meter range might look self-defeating to the idea of wireless networking, Panasonic thinks there are some good ways to put the technology to use. These include transmission of HD video between a car's entertainment system unit tucked away into the dashboard to the screens behind the headrests for passengers in the back seats, without wires. Ad-hoc networks using this could also greatly speed up data transfer between two devices in close range. Panasonic packed the hardware for this technology into SD cards, which can communicate with host devices over SDIO.

A related video follows.