Wi-Fi and WiGig Alliance ally to develop next gen Wi-Fi operating in 60 GHz band

The two leading wireless LAN communication interface technology groups Wi-Fi Alliance and the Wireless Gigabit Alliance (WiGig Alliance) have announced a cooperation agreement to share technology specifications for the development of a next-generation Wi-Fi Alliance certification program supporting Wi-Fi operation in the 60 GHz frequency band.

Wi-Fi systems operating in the higher microwave frequency of 60 GHz band will support traditional Wi-Fi networking in the 2.4 and 5 GHz bands complementing the current family of Wi-Fi technologies.

"60 GHz device connectivity will be an exciting enhancement to the capabilities of today's Wi-Fi technologies. It will expand the utility of Wi-Fi, used by hundreds of millions of people every day," said Wi-Fi Alliance chief executive officer Edgar Figueroa. "From its inception, the WiGig specification was designed to work on a wide variety of devices, making it a compelling input as we begin to define our certification program for 60 GHz wireless."

"Now that our specification is complete and published, it's time to set our sights on driving a great user experience through interoperability and certification," said Dr. Ali Sadri, president and chairman of the WiGig Alliance. "We are happy to work with the Wi-Fi Alliance to extend multi-gigabit capabilities to the Wi-Fi technology portfolio."

The Wireless Gigabit Alliance has announced the publication of its unified wireless specification and the opening of its Adopter Program. The WiGig specification define procedures to enable WiGig-compliant devices to hand over sessions to operate in the 2.4 or 5 GHz band. It is expected that a new class of tri-band Wi-Fi CERTIFIED devices will offer multi-gigabit wireless speeds while helping to ensure backward compatibility.

"Cisco sees 60 GHz technology as an important option in the evolution of wireless LANs in the enterprise, small business and home," said Bob Friday, Director of Strategic Initiatives of Cisco's Wireless Business Unit. "The wireless arena is certainly one in which Cisco can contribute greatly, especially as networks and information access become increasingly borderless by nature."

"WiGig shows enormous potential to drive the kind of wireless performance that businesses and consumers need," said Rob Enderle, president and principal analyst, Enderle Group. "The organization has brought together a critical mass of diverse industry leaders, and with the publication of its unified specification, WiGig is enabling the next generation of multi-gigabit wireless products for multiple platforms and applications."

New data from ABI Research indicates that out of approximately 580 million Wi-Fi devices shipped in 2009, 141 million were handsets. Wi-Fi handset certification volume grew 142% in 2009 from 2008 levels. More than 500 different handset models are said to be Wi-Fi CERTIFIED.

ABI Research expects this growth trend to continue, forecasting that half a billion Wi-Fi enabled handsets will ship in 2014, with 90 percent of smartphones incorporating Wi-Fi.

"In the age of data-centric multimedia phones, carriers have embraced Wi-Fi technology as a way to offload traffic from licensed spectrum and improve the consumer experience," said Michael Morgan, industry analyst, ABI Research. "We are seeing handset users starting to demand Wi-Fi because of its higher data rate and indoor reception benefits."

Phil Solis, practice director for Wireless Connectivity at ABI Research has said "There is no question that this agreement will enable 60 GHz technology to form an important part of the high-performance future for wireless networking,"

The WiGig Alliance Wi-Fi Alliance has lot of common members, As the frequencies and technologies in the WLAN domain meeting closer these two alliances can become single alliance.