Atheros and Wilocity embrace 'tri-band' wireless wares, 60GHz wireless PCIe

The amount of dual-band products (you know, those that support both 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands) is slowly growing, but already a pair of companies are thinking about the next big thing: tri-band. Atheros and Wilocity have both been eying that 60GHz stuff that the WiGig Alliance is pushing around these days, and now they're announcing a collaboration to "build tri-band wireless solutions that combine the ubiquity and coverage of WiFi with the multi-gigabit performance of the Wireless Gigabit Alliance's 60GHz technology." The new gear would enable all sorts of backwards compatibility, and while there aren't too many details being shared just yet on exactly what kind of kit is in the pipeline, we do know of one particular tidbit. That tidbit, of course, is wireless PCI Express, or wPCIe. Developed by Wilocity, this black magic would essentially enable PCIe devices to be docked outside of the desktop and have their signals beamed to a receiver card within the desktop. Think external graphics, storage arrays, etc., all sans cabling. It's being reported that wPCIe can push data at up to 5Gbps, and if all goes to plan, the spec should scale easily to 7Gbps. Be sure to give the links below a visit for a deeper dive, and get ready to give that SFF machine you've often overlooked... well, another look.

Show full PR text

Atheros and Wilocity Partner to Build Tri-Band Wireless Solutions That Combine Wi-Fi and WiGig Technologies

Leaders in Dual-Band 802.11n and 60 GHz Technologies Collaborate to Enable Cutting-Edge Multi-Gigabit Wireless Applications

CAESAREA, Israel & SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Wilocity, a leading developer of 60 GHz multi-gigabit wireless chipsets for the mobile computing, consumer electronics and peripheral markets, and Atheros Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: ATHR), a global leader in innovative technologies for wireless and wired communications, today announced that they are collaborating to build tri-band wireless solutions that combine the ubiquity and coverage of Wi-Fi® with the multi-gigabit performance of the Wireless Gigabit (WiGig™) Alliance's 60 GHz technology. Such "tri-band" capabilities will enhance the performance and functionality of wireless devices to enable a variety of new computing and entertainment applications.

"By working together to develop tri-band products, Atheros and Wilocity will allow customers to quickly realize the value of tri-band solutions and deliver on the promise of next-generation Wi-Fi."

Many devices and networks use dual-band 802.11n, which operates in the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands, to share broadband connections, videos, music, photos and other content throughout a home or enterprise. Advanced 60 GHz technologies offer multi-gigabit speeds to complement existing Wi-Fi capabilities and enable new cutting-edge wireless applications. Tri-band devices that leverage all three bands will also maintain compatibility with the hundreds of millions of Wi-Fi products in use today, ensuring a seamless and simple user experience.

Atheros and Wilocity are jointly developing tri-band solutions based on both the IEEE 802.11n standard and the new WiGig multi-gigabit wireless specification. By integrating and optimizing Wi-Fi and WiGig solutions, the two companies aim to accelerate the design of tri-band wireless products and enable the next-generation wireless ecosystem.

As respective leaders in Wi-Fi and 60 GHz, Atheros and Wilocity are shaping the future of wireless technology by participating in the IEEE, the WiGig Alliance and the Wi-Fi Alliance®. Atheros serves on the board of directors for both the WiGig Alliance and Wi-Fi Alliance; Wilocity serves on the WiGig board and chairs its Marketing Work Group.

Supporting Quotes:

* "Atheros is a leader in dual-band Wi-Fi technology and Wilocity is a pioneer in 60 GHz multi-gigabit wireless technology," said Philip Solis, research director at ABI Research. "By working together to develop tri-band products, Atheros and Wilocity will allow customers to quickly realize the value of tri-band solutions and deliver on the promise of next-generation Wi-Fi."
* "Wilocity is taking its breakthrough 60 GHz technology and combining it with the industry's most widely adopted Wi-Fi technology," said Tal Tamir, CEO and co-founder, Wilocity. "Atheros is the leading innovator in Wi-Fi technology. As fellow visionaries in the future of Wi-Fi technology, our partnership will make tri-band wireless networking a reality for consumers."
* "Next-generation networks will employ a variety of technologies and devices to support the explosive demand for digital media, cloud services and constant connectivity," said Gary Szilagyi, vice president of Atheros' Computing and Consumer Business Unit. "Wilocity's 60 GHz technology is a game-changer for the wireless industry, and is a natural complement to our existing Wi-Fi portfolio. We are collaborating with them to quickly deliver solutions that combine best-in-class technologies and extend our leadership in this burgeoning market."

Supporting Resources:

* To download the Atheros logo: http://tinyurl.com/atheroslogo
* Visit the Wilocity website: http://www.wilocity.com
* For more information on Wilocity's technology: The Future of Wireless Technology is Here: Introducing "Truly Wireless" with wPCIe™
* For information about the new WiGig specification: http://www.wigig.org/specifications

About Wilocity

Wilocity is a leading developer of next-generation 60 GHz multi-gigabit wireless chipsets for the mobile computing, consumer electronics and peripheral markets that will enable mobile device manufacturers to deliver the thin and light platforms that consumers want without sacrificing the performance and functionality that consumers need. Based on the Wireless Gigabit Alliance (WiGig) specification, Wilocity's Wireless PCI Express (wPCIe™) technology will enable truly multi-gigabit wireless for a wide range of applications from I/O to networking to video. For more information, please visit http://www.wilocity.com or read Wilocity's wPCIe whitepaper.

About Atheros Communications, Inc.

Atheros Communications is a global leader in innovative technologies for wireless and wired communications. Atheros combines its wireless and networking systems expertise with high-performance radio frequency (RF), mixed signal and digital semiconductor design skills to provide highly integrated chipsets that are manufactured on low-cost, standard complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) processes. Atheros technology is used by a broad base of leading customers, including personal computer, networking equipment and consumer device manufacturers. For more information, please visit http://www.atheros.com.

Wilocity™ and wPCIe™ are trademarks of Wilocity. Atheros and the Atheros logo are trademarks of Atheros Communications, Inc. All other trademarks mentioned in this document are the sole property of their respective owners.

[Hexydes Posted Jul 15th 2010 12:05AM]

Owl City? Do not want.

[enaybee Posted Jul 15th 2010 12:11AM]

this is all good but my iphone 4 doesnt even do wifi-n on 5ghz. And thats the only wireless gadget i have.

[Phillomath Posted Jul 15th 2010 12:27AM]

@enaybee What are you doing on engadget?! I have 3 laptops, 3 phones, 2 game consoles, a router, a printer/audio bridge and 2 portable game devices that use wifi. And thats just wifi, don't get me started on other wireless standards!

[glennc2 Posted Jul 15th 2010 7:55PM]

@Phillomath the only people i know with multiple phones are drug dealers

[higherdestiny Posted Jul 15th 2010 12:12AM]

Can it play Crysis?

[Phillomath Posted Jul 15th 2010 12:19AM]

Hmm I seem to remember wPCIe only had a range of a few cm. Not enough for external wireless devices but plenty for internal wireless interconnects.

[NikAmi Posted Jul 15th 2010 5:02AM]

@Phillomath I wouldn't mind seeing hard drives and optical drives going cableless. They don't need multi-gigabit speed for that but it would be nice because threading those cables is a pain in the ass and looks awful.

[uBradtu Posted Jul 15th 2010 2:04PM]

@Phillomath
Phillomath Oregon?

[looselycoupled Posted Jul 15th 2010 12:24AM]

5-7Gbps is 400-560MB/s, which is certainly incredible for a wireless standard, but PCIe x16 (1.0) has roughly 4GB/sec of throughput. So while certain niche areas will benefit, I don't think we'll be seeing highend GPUs using wireless pcie any time soon

[mrqs Posted Jul 15th 2010 4:13AM]

@looselycoupled

highend gpus are the niche
and look at the diagram, the wpcie is x1, not x16

[tobsmonster2 Posted Jul 15th 2010 6:28AM]

@looselycoupled
Exactly, I called shenanigans as soon as i finished reading. There'll be a cold day in Westminister before I connect my gtx 460 wirelessly (don't own one but its nice to pretend).

[NetNewsercom Posted Jul 15th 2010 12:27AM]

Engadget, get rid of that giant android ad on the top of the homepage. That's not at all appropriate for this site.

[n11 Posted Jul 15th 2010 12:56AM]

This just gave me a crazy thought that maybe in the future your "desktop computer" will be but a mere mouse, keyboard and touchscreen monitor. And your "hardware upgrades" will be done through software, wirelessly connected to your "computer" which would consist of the mentioned screen, mouse and keyboard.

It just might work...

[Dionisij Posted Jul 15th 2010 1:09AM]

@n11

Barmen, I'll have what he's having... :)

[BashDono Posted Jul 17th 2010 4:33AM]

@n11

Certainly within the realm of possibility, just let IBM perfect their "eFuse" might be into something that brings them back on top in future. Picture chips morphing at silicon level non too different to 'bots from the transformer movies I'll give that a good century or two though.

[dicobalt Posted Jul 15th 2010 2:05AM]

This is pretty cool. I wonder what the range is on wireless like this? Does it require line of sight? Obviously it isn't meant to operate over long distances.

[F C Posted Jul 15th 2010 12:39PM]

Is it really necessary to make all peripherals/connections wireless? What are the real benefits in non-mobile applications?

[dhill0413 Posted Jul 15th 2010 1:01PM]

@F C

i think people said the same thing about having laptops connected to wireless in their own homes. ease of use. and setting a PCIe card next to the computer as an installation, instead of breaking out my screwdriver and opening up my tower.....mmmmmm

[BashDono Posted Jul 17th 2010 4:52AM]

I hope this is the piece of tech that liberates me from everyday table-top cable management. Just have three questions; how many devices can be connected simultaneously?, do they plan to scale up to x16 in future and can I install whatever it's going to be in one of my current laptops PCIe slots naturally the one with power leads cuz getting a new rig is a deal breaker. Bluetooth promised so much and never delivered.