Qualcomm, Inc. (NASDAQ:QCOM) bought Wilocity, a start-up chip designer, with an objective to integrate faster, a short distance wireless technology to the mobile devices. Wilocity is a Sunnyvale, California based company established in 2007 to make faster Wi-Fi chips, dubbed WiGig.
Qualcomm to use WiGig in Snapdragon 810
Qulacomm has acquired the company with the hope of integrating WiGig into its Snapdragon mobile chips in the first half of the next year. Amir Faintuch, president, Qualcomm Atheros, said in a statement that the company is taking forward its innovation and investing in leadership technologies to offer greater value to the customers and creating new growth opportunities for mobile, computing and networking platforms.
Faintuch added that WiGig will be vital to materialize the Qualcomm’s strategy of addressing the consumers’ increasingly sophisticated smartphones, tablets and computing requirements to run applications like immediate streaming of 4K video and high throughput peer-to-peer communication allowing the next generation of social interactions between users sharing content. Qualcomm is looking forward to power its Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 processor with this latest technology.
Faintuch did not state any exact date when these chips will be shipped, but indicated that an industry group known as Wi-Fi Alliance will most probably formalize WiGig specifications in the first half of next year.
More speed
The chips from the startup can flow the data at gigabit speeds in less time over a short distance between a PC and TV in the living room.The chip can be many times faster than the usual Wi-Fi, but the gadgets should be within a room as it cannot transfer the data into another room or building. It is a replacement of mesh of wires such as HDMI cables that connect a set-top box to a TV or computer to display. Wilocity chips can transfer up to 4 gigabyte to 5 gigabytes per second, compared to hundreds of megabytes per second for Wi-Fi.
Tal Tamir, chief executive officer, Wilocity said, “Qualcomm Atheros and Wilocity have a successful history of collaboration and share a culture of invention.” Tamir added that the Wilocity team will strengthen Qualcomm’s strong points, and will deliver innovative wireless technology for mobile, computing and networking customers to assist the rapidly connected world. The CEO, further, said that the company is eager to take 60 GHz vision to the next-level and scale.
