Wilocity: 60GHz wireless revolution begins at CES

From CNET News.com: If all goes according to Wilocity's plan, the startup's dream of high-speed wireless networking will take a crucial step toward reality in January.

That's because the company, which is leading the charge for next-generation technology called 802.11ad designed to reach 7 gigabits per second, plans to show off a variety of devices using its technology at the mammoth CES trade show that month.

"We'll be able to show you what your life would be like on 60GHz," said Mark Grodzinsky, Wilocity's vice president of marketing. He predicted the first devices to use Wilocity's 802.11ad chips will be notebooks, Ultrabooks, tablets, and docking stations that can connect those devices to peripherals such as displays.

These devices will be a key moment for the future of 802.11ad. In Wilocity's dream, they will excite people about the possibilities of wireless networking that's faster than what typical computers today can do with a wired connection. For example, a smartphone carried into the office could connect to a keyboard, mouse, and large display. A tablet carried into the den could become a controller for a game shown on the big-screen TV.

Or, if Wilocity's dream turns to a nightmare, people could just yawn. Novelty doesn't guarantee success, as Wireless USB and other duds have shown. And communication protocols are particularly hard to popularize since success depends on support from a wide range of devices.

It'll be possible to start seeing if the dream is becoming later in 2012, when the company expects the first products to go on sale. "Our goal is [to have] end-customer products on the shelf by mid-2012," Grodzinsky said.

Wilocity was founded in 2007, with a core team from Intel. "We'll be the ones out there in 2012. I don't expect to see anybody else shipping in 2012," Grodzinsky said.

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