IBM, MediaTek team for ultra-fast wireless chips

Stephen Withers
Tuesday, 23 October 2007 01:51

Your IT - Home IT

IBM and MediaTek are working together to develop chipsets based on millimetre wave (mmWave) technology for ultra-fast wireless networking and AV connections.

IBM will contribute the fruits of its R&D efforts in the areas of mmWave radio chips, antennas and packaging, while MediaTek brings its digital baseband and video processing expertise plus its relationships with consumer electronics vendors.

"This collaborative effort will enable consumers to wirelessly transfer large multimedia data files around their home and/or offices in seconds," said T.C. Chen, vice president, science and technology, IBM Research. "This will enable a world where you can have your entertainment when you want and where you want it."

"MediaTek has constantly provided its customers with the most advanced features and capabilities to enable the best communication as well as entertainment experience," said MediaTek spokesperson Mingto Yu. "This joint effort has made it possible to take advantage of millimetre wave radio technology."

IBM officials say the technology is fast enough to transfer a 10G file in 5 seconds, compared with the 10 minutes needed with a current Wi-Fi link. This speed also means uncompressed HD TV could be streamed wirelessly between set top boxes and TVs. It also has the potential to be used in handheld devices such as PDAs and "iPod-like devices", according to IBM officials.

IBM demonstrated wireless HD video transmission using prototype mmWave chipset back in February 2006.

The technology is not without its drawbacks. In particular, radio signals in the 60GHz band have a short range and little ability to penetrate walls. This means a base station would be needed in each room, with another network (possibly Gigabit Ethernet) required to connect them. From a content provider's perspective, this can be seen as a good thing, as it reduces the risk that paid content will 'leak' from one home to another.

The partners did not say when they expect the technology to go into commercial production.