The Wi-Fi Alliance consolidated its position in representing the wireless local area space, announcing it has signed an agreement to absorb the Wireless Gigabit Alliance (WiGig). The deal, executed under a memorandum of understanding, will bring together the WiGig Alliance’s work on the 60 GHz technology and the Wi-Fi Alliance’s efforts to develop an interoperability certification for technology in that band.
The organizations noted that the deal is intended to “bring greater efficiency, ensure closely-harmonized connectivity and application-layer solutions using the technology, and leverage WiGig technology know-how across the range of Wi-Fi technologies.” They added that the first Wi-Fi Alliance interoperability certification program for WiGig products is targeted to launch later this year.
“We set out four years ago with the simple goal of realizing a global wireless ecosystem of interoperable, high-performance devices that would operate seamlessly,” explained Ali Sadri, president and chairman of the WiGig Alliance. “In that time there have been many challenges to overcome but we have now created a market that simply did not previously exist. Consolidating activities with the Wi-Fi Alliance at this juncture will ensure WiGig’s mainstream success to the benefit of technology users everywhere.”
The WiGig standard is being developed to provide short-range, multi-gigabit connectivity for applications like high-definition display extensions, peripheral connectivity and input/output cable replacement. The WiGig Alliance noted that the technology is expected to provide throughput speeds of up to 7 gigabits per second. Gerry Purdy, principal analyst at MobileTrax, explained that “with WiGig/802.11ad, each wireless channel is about 25-times wider than a typical 802.11ac channel, so it would be like having a 25 lane highway to move traffic compared to a one lane highway (or two or three lanes, if multiple spatial streams are used in .11ac).”
Under the terms of the agreement, the organizations will enter a period of “diligence and planning, with the intent to complete transition of both the technology development activity and WiGig assets to Wi-Fi Alliance by the middle of 2013.”
IMS Research noted last year that they expected more than one million WiGig devices in its first year.
A number of trade organizations have been working in the wireless local area network space, attempting to provide guidance on interoperability issues that are seen as key to driving deployment and consumer uptake.
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