Move over Wi-Fi… WiGig is taking Over
May 11, 2010 14 Comments
by Elias Shams
Imagine accessing the internet via the fastest existing Wi-Fi today, but ten times faster (10x). Just the thought of its effect on our home media networking gives me the goose bump. It’s in the pipeline and it’s called WiGig. 
The Wi-Fi Alliance and Wireless Gigabit Alliance have jointly approved the specification for a new format for transmitting data over the air at speeds up to 10 times faster than today’s most powerful hotspots can provide. The goal – to bring 7Gbps wireless connectivity to users.
The two organizations will try to convince leading wireless networking manufacturers (e.g., Linksys and D-Link) to incorporate the new WiGig format into upcoming products over the next couple years. The organizations envision WiGig as a complement to existing Wi-Fi bands rather than as a replacement. That’s because WiGig’s coverage range is significantly smaller.
The idea is to combine into a single router a 2.4GHz adapter to handle backward compatibility and improve range, a 5GHz adapter for performance, and a 60GHz adapter for super-fast transfers over a short distance.
Question though: What about the new 1Gbps wireless standard, 802.11ad specs that IEEEs has already on their drawing board?
It will also be interesting to see how WiGig will change the WiMax space. Anyone?
Hope you understand Spanish
About Elias Shams
Elias Shams
Kamran Abdi
Tatiana Sorabi
Faster “standard” using different radio radio spectrum space (60GHz) and assume different modulation techniques – same security issues will be part of this new standard as we have with a,b,g,n…..
I realize that. Same as Internet and Newpaper are totally two different things, but Internet is killing the traditional paper
The 802.11ad will be meant for Wi-Fi. WiMAX was never developed to replace Wi-Fi. The spectrum used are different, the range covered for this new Std is similar to the current WiFi std and there is no mention of advanced mobility. So I don’t see the new standard affect WiMAX in any capacity. WiMAX provides higher mobility and range. So in brief 2 wireless technology for 2 different usage models.
Internet provides the same information as the newspapers but with regular updates and is a cheaper option.
WiFi is used to cover a much smaller geographical area compared to WiMAX and provides very limitted mobility. If you want to compare technologies, LTE vs. WiMAX is the one. Both are meant for Mobile communication with similar features and usage models. WiMAX was never developed with the intention to replace WiFi but could be used as a wireless backhaul for Broadband internet at the end of which you have a WiFi hotspot.
I agree with Sachin. WiMAX was never a replacement of WiFi.
Elias, this is just a new physical layer so I’d suspect the same security methods will be used (WPA2, AES, etc.), especially as they plan to bundle it with existing 2.4 and 5GHz technologies.
However as it will be extremely short-range, it’s possible that more simplistic methods might become available… for example an HD display device does not require much security.
Make sense. Thanks
Elias -
802.11ad is meant to offer very high rates of data transfer at very limited ranges (a few feet), and will operate at 60 GHz. Think of it as higher capacity, lower range WiFi.
WiMAX on the other hand is intended to offer high rates of traffic (50Mbps or so) at very long ranges – up to several miles, depending on terrain, terminal type etc. It operates in several frequency bands, most of which require licenses and are owned by operators.
If anything, the two technologies will be complimentary. Devices of the future will support multiple radio types (WiMAX, WiFi, WiGig and potentially others) each with its own performance characteristics and usage scenarios.
Wi-Fi is still creating business and best fitting in the business plan of the data operator , 802.11ad will be value added for the last mile connectivity where we are talking about video on demand or DTH. Still 802.11 a,b,g,n standard are well used for the current application requirements , Wimax and Wi-Fi will co exist ,as OEM’s are talking about multi technology CPE ,GSM-Wimax ,Wimax-Wi-Fi,and this is the known fact still there is no single wireless data technology this fully driving the whole business of any operator ,where Wi-Fi and Wimax can both used as mess technology ,Comparison is fair if its Evdo, HSDPA ,W-CDMA, Wimax ,LTE
Amazing, must be expensive though.
802.11ad is currently only capable of ranges up to 10m, although with beamforming they may be able to extend that range slightly.
its main use will be to remove the need for the likes of HDMI, VGA leads etc. focussing mainly on the home user, so dont expect to see 60GHz internal wireless networks on a large scale any time soon
http://wirelessgigabitalliance.org/specifications/
http://www.ieee802.org/11/Reports/tgad_update.htm
as already mentioned, as it is part of the 802.11 standard, it will be in line with the 802.11i amendmant…
Sean has it right. The new technology will be come part of 802.11 through 802.11ad. The security will come from 802.11i. Since this primary use case is replacing cables in the home entertainment center, expect the security to be an extension of Wireless Protected Setup (WPS) instead of enterprise level (802.1x) security.
Entirely agree with Narender and Ronen.
WiGig, as I see it, will become a more secure replacement for bluetooth, the advantages of using this are across network connectivity, as mentioned previously, more cables/leads can be removed. But what’s the point, any network can only perform at the speed of the slowest component!