FollowThe mobile processor producer Qualcomm acquired Wilocity, WiGig chip maker. Mobile data transfer increased dramatically in the last years and it will only go up. Full HD videos are just one type of files whose impressive dimensions are managed by wireless connections. As the quality and inherent dimension of video clips grew, their transfer time between devices became longer and longer. Right now, the bottleneck seems to be taken care of. The established Wi-Fi standards reached their limits and will be soon replaced by WiGig. Intel already preached about the necessity to adopt WiGig in order to give up cables from PCs, a target set up to 2016.
Qualcomm acquired Wilocity to boost WiGig development
WiGig runs at 60 Ghz, which is a higher radio frequency. The main advantage is the vastly increased transfer speed. Data can be transferred at 7 Gbps with the new standard. The shortcoming, in comparison to today’s mainstream Wi-Fi standards, is that the transfer can be performed on shorter distances. It makes it ideal, for example, to stream 4K (3840 x 2160 pixels) videos from a smartphone to a TV in the same room without any cables and lag. But the applications of the new standard are numerous and many of them will be available in at least one year from now. Most of the flagship smartphones, like the HTC One M8, are equipped with a Qualcomm processing unit. Qualcomm intents to equip the first smartphones with WiGig chips in combination to Wi-fi modules in the second half of 2015.
Basically, the development and adoption of WiGig will produce fundamental changes. WiGig will allow the construction of a smooth framework for tomorrow’s Internet of Things. Numerous and various home equipment will be setup and running at full potential soon, now that WiGig development will be performed at a faster pace. The kitchen and the living room could become islands of extreme performance, as Tal Tamir, the chief executive of Wilocity, declared.
Billy Anders, group manager, operating systems, Microsoft, welcomed the news, as so did representatives from Dell and Cisco. Anders even bragged that “A little-known fact is that WiGig began during a meeting on Microsoft’s campus with several other companies, including Wilocity. It’s gratifying to see the rapid evolution of this technology, and this development indicates a rapid proliferation of WiGig.”, according to Marketwatch.com.
Qualcomm acquired Wilocity chipmaker after already possessing Atheros, a major Wi-Fi chipmaker for more than $3 billion since 2011. Qualcomm followed closely the start-up company Wilocity for a couple of years and invested in it prior to the acquisition.
