Technology titans on May 6 announced an alliance to promote a Wireless Gigabit (WiGig) standard predicted to one day let people beam high-definition (HD) video to home television sets.
WiGig is 10 to 20 times faster than WiFi, and should cut from hours to seconds the time it takes to wirelessly transfer gigantic digital data files, such as HD films, according to alliance president Ari Sadri.
WiGig uses a 60-gigahertz spectrum to quickly move large amounts of data, meaning that several people could use wireless Internet connections simultaneously for demanding tasks without slowing performance. "We're now at the point where the last barrier to wireless being able to do everything that wire can has fallen," said Craig Mathias, a principal with Farpoint Group wireless and mobile advisory firm.
"WiGig Alliance is going to deliver technology that will have an enormous impact on connectivity and mobility, information technology, consumer electronics, and many other applications."
Alliance members include Broadcom, Intel, LG, Microsoft, Nokia, Panasonic and Samsung. Wireless HD video streaming is "a glimpse" of what WiGig has to offer, according to Sadri.
"The hours of time you spend downloading will go down to seconds," he said. "You could download movies while you put gas in your car." Sadri expects a WiGig standard to be finished by the end of this year, then testing to begin to make sure the wireless technology works properly in televisions, computers, mobile telephones, video cameras and other devices.
WiGig is expected to make it possible to speedily stream HD movies wirelessly from Blu-ray players or HD cameras to televisions. As hi-tech powerhouses, said Sadri, the alliance members "have the technical acumen and business experience to make the 60-GHz wireless technology a reality for both the home and enterprise." Manufacturers are not expected to begin making gadgets with WiGig until successful testing is completed.
"This is the first step to develop technology and products that take advantage of the frequency on the HD side of things," said Suzy Pruitt of Intel Global Communications. "It will help deliver in the living room HD content distributed around your home; something that would clog up a WiFi or highly-bandwidth frequency."