Qualcomm’s recent acquisition of Wilocity, a pioneer in 60-GHz WiGig technology, gave the emerging sector a boost of confidence and raised the hopes of other start-ups. These include Australia’s Nitero, which has just unveiled its first product, the NT4600, which should enter production next year, targeting mobile devices.
WiGig, now under the wing of the WiFi Alliance, delivers multi-gigabit speeds over short distances by using a WiFi-like protocol in 60-GHz spectrum. CEO Pat Kelly believes momentum is gathering behind WiGig, in mobile products as well as the natural seed markets of PC-peripheral interconnect (where it is already heavily supported by Intel, Dell and others) and in-room home video networks.
Nitero's platform is differentiated from Wilocity's by being built from scratch for mobile requirements and power limitations. It uses the Samsung foundry's 28nm RF process and claims 10 times lower power consumption and a 10 times reduction in form factor, compared to solutions designed for PCs. It can also deliver five times the data rate of a 2x2 MIMO solution based on 802.11ac WiFi, in 5-GHz, in a whole-room network. The chip also supports peer-to-peer wireless connectivity using 16QAM modulation at up to 4.6Gbps and includes a PCI Express host interface and Android drivers.
Nitero’s technology originally came out of CMOS millimeter wave R&D conducted back in 2004 by NICTA, Australia's largest ICT research organization, and the University of Melbourne from 2004. Nitero was spun out in 2011 and has been funded by Austin Ventures, Southern Cross Venture Partners and Trailblazer Capital.
“802.11ad, the next generation of Wi-Fi, is the missing link to allow for the long-awaited convergence of PC, gaming and entertainment platforms onto a single mobile device. 802.11ad solutions built for the PC and slimmed down for mobile simply can’t meet the power, performance, and form-factor requirements of Tier 1 mobile customers,” said Kelly.