Industry Leaders Join WiGig Alliance to Advance Next-Generation Wireless Technology

Advancing its goal of unifying the next generation of entertainment, computing and communications devices, the WiGig Alliance today announced five new members, bringing total membership to more than 20 industry-leading companies. Toshiba has joined the organization's board of directors. Agilent Technologies, Beam Networks, Ralink Technology Corporation and Texas Instruments have also joined the leading semiconductor and device manufacturers, which are collaborating to develop a gigabit wireless technology to connect consumer electronics, handheld devices and personal computers. The new members build upon the organization's depth and breadth, while bringing expertise that will be critical to creating a cross-industry ecosystem of products based on the WiGig specification.

"The WiGig Alliance continues to gain critical mass as the wireless industry looks ahead to 60 GHz technologies to provide the needed throughput for emerging applications that require Multi-Gigabit wireless connectivity speed," said Dr. Ali Sadri, President and Chairman of the WiGig Alliance. "Our newest members represent a cross-section of chipmakers, device manufacturers and test equipment vendors that reinforce our efforts to develop and certify a technology that will span multiple platforms."

WiGig Alliance members are defining a unified specification that will enable PCs, consumer electronics and handheld devices to communicate without wires at gigabit speeds within a typical room -- more than 10 times faster than today's wireless LANs. WiGig technology will leverage the unlicensed 60 GHz spectrum and address performance and power requirements of many wireless devices and platforms, while coexisting with and complementing existing and future 802.11 wireless systems, driving an interoperable ecosystem of easy-to-use, very high-speed and energy-efficient wireless products.

The WiGig specification is expected to be available to member companies by the end of 2009. As the specification nears completion, the WiGig Alliance is also developing a plan to certify the interoperability of WiGig products. The addition of a test equipment vendor to its roster will further speed the alliance's efforts to define its certification plan. The WiGig Alliance is committed to ensuring that WiGig certified devices work together seamlessly from day one -- which is vital to the adoption, proliferation and use of its technology.

To register for advance notice of the final specification, visit: http://wigig.org/specifications/.

About the WiGig Alliance

The WiGig Alliance envisions a global wireless ecosystem of interoperable, extremely high performance consumer electronics, handheld devices and personal computers that work together seamlessly to connect people in the digital age. WiGig technology enables multi-gigabit-speed wireless communications among these devices and fuels industry convergence to a single radio using the readily available, unlicensed 60 GHz spectrum. By bringing together the leading manufacturers of semiconductors, personal computers, consumer electronics and handheld devices, WiGig Alliance is creating a comprehensive specification to drive a global ecosystem of easy-to-use, interoperable, high speed wireless products.

Among the companies that comprise the WiGig Alliance board of directors are Atheros Communications, Inc., Broadcom Corporation, Dell, Inc., Intel Corporation, LG Electronics Inc., Marvell International LTD., MediaTek Inc., Microsoft Corporation, NEC Corporation, Nokia Corporation, Panasonic Corporation, Samsung Electronics Co., Toshiba Corporation and Wilocity. These companies are joined by contributors that include Agilent Technologies Inc., Beam Networks, NXP, Ralink Technology Corporation, Realtek, STMicroelectronics, Tensorcomm and Texas Instruments. For more information, please visit http://www.wirelessgigabitalliance.org.

Wireless Gigabit Alliance and WiGig are trademarks of the Wireless Gigabit Alliance.

SOURCE: Wireless Gigabit Alliance

Nereus for WiGig Alliance 
Ashley McCann, 503-619-5224 
press@wigig.org

Related terms: communications, consumer, electronics, energy, entertainment, president, products, radio, semiconductors, technology, texas, wireless