Airvine, the first company to develop a multi-Gigabit-speed wireless backhaul system for indoor connectivity, today announced the general availability of its WaveTunnel product line. The shoebox-sized module mounts on ceilings and other interior high points to provide high speed connectivity for the ever-expanding menu of enterprise applications, whether IT (Information Tech) or OT (Operational Tech). WaveTunnel systems, which can be installed in hours, fill the broadband gap that exists within many large interior spaces by extending LAN reach or upgrading the performance of older 1 Gb/s Ethernet CAT 5 cables.

WaveTunnel operates in the interference-free 60 GHz band, where there is also plenty of spectrum to provide on first release a multi-Gb/s backbone connectivity capability. Typically, 60 GHz systems operate on a line-of-sight (LOS) basis. WaveTunnel, however, can penetrate most indoor walls as well as "beam steer" around corners, making it a true non-LOS 60 GHz system. This breakthrough capability greatly simplifies and expedites network set-up and operational readiness.

(Editor's Note: This new wireless technology and particular frequency of operation make it especially interesting for VR scenarios, since the high data throughput within an enclosed space seems to be one of the ideal applications for this technology.)

Qualcomm Technologies today announced a family of 60GHz Wi-Fi chipsets, the QCA64x8 and QCA64x1, delivering 10+ gigabit-per-second (Gbps) network speeds and wire-equivalent latency, while setting the industry low-power benchmark for extended device battery life. As a new connectivity era dawns, reliance on high-bandwidth mmWave spectrum will increase, bringing powerful new wireless experiences like ultra-high-definition video streaming, Virtual/Augmented Reality (VR/AR), mobile screen casting and fixed wireless mesh backhaul.

Wi-Fi Alliance, the nonprofit organization that promotes Wi-Fi technology and certifies the interoperability of different Wi-Fi products, has announced that it has begun the certification process for the Wi-Fi CERTIFIED WiGig, otherwise known as the 802.11ad standard - a complement to the higher-range ac standard currently emplyed. WiGig is sure to stir the wireless ecosystem, in that it brings to the table multi-gigabit speeds - up to 8 Gb/s - with low latencies. because of that, this technology is sure to see widespread adoption - due to it allowing wireless connections with data rate characteristics close to wired ones, it might be the first step towards wireless VR and AR experiences, with more applications in the area of wireless docking, multimedia streaming, gaming, and networking. According to a 2013 survey from ABI Research, the 60 GHz Wi-Fi chipset market is forecasted to be worth more than $1,500 million until 2018.

DisplayLink, the leading provider of USB graphics technology, today announced the industry's first demonstration of Dual 4K monitors over a 60 GHz WiGig connection. The demonstration features a WiGig integrated notebook, WiGig docking station connected to two 4K DisplayLink USB Graphics adapters, enabling two 4K monitors showcasing "wired-quality" latency and image quality. The demonstration is being shown September 9th-11th at the Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco at DisplayLink booth #750.

"This is truly an exciting time for DisplayLink, with interest pouring in for our latest DL-5000 family of 4K enabled chipsets," said John Cummins, Senior Vice President Sales and Marketing. "Since the first announcement at CES 2014 we've launched the DL-5500, DL-5700 and DL-5900 products capable of providing a 4K workspace on non-4k capable notebooks and computers, extending flexibility to the workspace and increasing productivity. We're proud to show how this capability extends further into the wireless space when combined with a 60 GHz WiGig 4K dock, enabling dual 4K 3098x2160 resolution displays at IDF '14 in San Francisco. Latency and image quality are preserved for a no compromise 'wired-quality' user experience."

This year, Wi-Fi Alliance celebrates 15 years of connecting people and improving everyday lives with Wi-Fi. Interoperability, ease of use, and innovation have made Wi-Fi one of the greatest success stories of the last century, and Wi-Fi Alliance has an extensive roadmap to carry the technology well into the future. Since its founding in 1999, the industry organization has been delivering on its vision of seamless connectivity -- evolving its technologies and certification programs to keep pace with the requirements of today's connected world.

Founded by six companies to develop and validate multi-vendor interoperability, Wi-Fi Alliance has grown into an organization of nearly 650 companies and a driving force in Wi-Fi's ascent to one of the world's most-loved and widely used technologies. With billions of devices in use today, Wi-Fi exemplifies the value of industry-wide standards and multi-vendor collaboration to support technology adoption.

Today at the 2013 Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Nitero, a fabless semiconductor company developing next-generation Wi-Fi solutions for mobile devices, demonstrated its innovative 60 GHz Wi-Fi solution manufactured on GLOBALFOUNDRIES' 65 nanometer (nm) Low Power Enhanced (LPe) RF platform optimized for mobile SoC applications.

Nitero's 60 GHz solution, which complements and completes today's Wi-Fi solutions such as 802.11n and 802.11ac, eliminates the need for physical connectors and their cables, dramatically increasing ease-of-use in tablet and handset devices. The company's multi-gigabit, ultra-low power Wi-Fi solution allows consumers to enjoy the same capabilities and flexibility of high-end notebook computers in the convenient portability of a mobile device. Compliant with the now IEEE ratified 802.11ad industry standard, Nitero plans for its upcoming solution to be Wi-Fi CERTIFIED for popular solutions from the Wi-Fi Alliance such as Wi-Fi Direct and Miracast.

Wilocity, a leading developer of 60 GHz multi-gigabit wireless chipsets, today announced at International CES that it is demonstrating the industry's first commercially available end user products integrating Wilocity chipsets compliant with the newly ratified IEEE 802.11ad 60 GHz wireless standard. Additionally, the company will be the first to demonstrate application level tri-band networking with seamless Fast Session Transfer connected to a tri-band AP.

The company's appearance at CES follows a year of rapid momentum for Wilocity, including its recent announcement with Dell of the first commercially available WiGig-enabled product, new technology partnerships and partnership advances with Marvell and Qualcomm-Atheros and numerous other awards and industry recognition.

Heralding a new era in high-speed wireless connectivity, Wilocity, the leading developer of 60 GHz multi-gigabit wireless chipsets, today announced that it is jointly providing tri-band wireless chipsets with Qualcomm Atheros, Inc., for Dell's first WiGig enabled Ultrabook for business, the Latitude 6430u. Dell announced the Latitude 6430u last week and demonstrated its multi-gigabit wireless docking and networking capabilities at a Windows 8 launch attended by Dell and Microsoft executives in New York City.

Dell's new Latitude 6430u Ultrabook, integrating the Tri-band chipset from Wilocity and Qualcomm-Atheros, will be among the very first devices to reach the market featuring WiGig technology (IEEE 802.11ad). WiGig technology represents a new and major step forward in the wireless mobile experience by allowing data transfer rates that are over 10 times faster than current Wi-Fi technologies. Wilocity and Qualcomm Atheros' Tri-band system allows Ultrabook users to connect to peripherals such as docks, displays and storage at multi-gigabit speeds, while maintaining standard Wi-Fi coverage throughout the enterprise.

In his keynote today at the Intel Developer Forum, Intel Chief Technology Officer Justin Rattner said, "In the future, if it computes, it connects. From the simplest embedded sensors to the most advanced cloud datacenters, we're looking at techniques to allow all of them to connect without wires."

Rattner demonstrated for the first time a working, all-digital WiFi radio, dubbed a "Moore's Law Radio." The CTO explained that an all-digital radio follows Moore's Law by scaling in area and energy efficiency with such digital chip processes as Intel's latest 22nm tri-gate technology. System-on-chip designs for smartphones and tablet computers would be the most likely spot for the all digital radios to be integrated. The small size and lower cost of integrated digital radios will enable a host of new applications from wearable devices to "The Internet of Things" where devices such as home appliances with sensors can communicate with each other, exchange data and can be operated remotely.

Panasonic Corporation today announced it has developed a chipset for multi-gigabit millimeter wave wireless communication that offers the industry's lowest power consumption of less than 1 Watt by employing a new baseband processing architecture.

The new chipset will enable stable interactive communication between various kinds of devices supporting the specification developed by the WiGig Alliance. Panasonic had previously developed fundamental CMOS circuit technologies for 60 GHz transceiver and modem signal processing circuits, but now an additional radio packet processing block has been integrated as a key block of the chipset. This plays a significant role in accelerating the realization of simple to use high-definition video data sharing/streaming applications for mobile devices.

Sony Corporation today announced that the National University Corporation, Tokyo Institute of Technology and Sony have jointly developed a radio frequency ("RF") LSI and a baseband ("BB") LSI that enables millimeter-wave wireless data transfer at the world's fastest rate of 6.3 Gb/s. This technological achievement was adopted for presentation at the International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC) to be held in San Francisco from February 19, 2012 as academic paper No. 12.3 wherein details of the technology will be disclosed.

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.

The Georgia Electronic Design Center (GEDC) at the Georgia Institute of Technology has produced a CMOS chip capable of transmitting 60 GHz digital RF signals. This short-range new technology, if finalized, could offer many benefits, such as extremely fast wireless peer-to-peer connectivity in short ranges between virtually any device. That chip can even make the cables used nowadays for connection obsolete. Among the many potential 60 GHz applications are virtually wireless desktop-computer setups and data centers, wireless home DVD systems, in-store kiosks that transfer movies to handheld devices in seconds, and the potential to move gigabytes of photos or video from a camera to a PC almost instantly without cables. The single-chip CMOS component integrates a low-power radio with an embedded antenna, that draws only 100 milliwatts of power when operating, making it not only very small but extremely efficient too. GEDC researchers have already achieved very high data transfer rates that promise unprecedented short-range wireless speeds - 15 Gbps at a distance of 1 meter, 10 Gbps at 2 meters and 5 Gbps at 5 meters, enough for transmitting uncompressed 720p or 1080i video.
"We believe this new standard represents a major step forward," said Joy Laskar, a member of the Ecma 60 GHz standards committee and director of the Georgia Electronic Design Center ( GEDC ) at Georgia Tech. "Consumers could see products capable of ultra-fast short-range data transfer within two or three years." The specifications for this technology, which involves chips capable of sending RF signals in the 60 GHz range, are expected to be published as an ISO standard in 2009.