How A New Wi-Fi Standard Could Reshape The Future Of Gadgets

[Commentary] Today, the most prevalent standards for wireless local networking are Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. The former is primarily used for high-speed access within buildings, with good local range. The latter is a low-power enabler of short-range connectivity. For the most part, they have steered clear of each other’s domain. Bluetooth seems intent on chasing even lower-power applications with the ultra-battery-efficient Bluetooth LE, and Wi-Fi has historically aimed for ever higher speed. Soon, though, a new Wi-Fi standard stands to become the fastest Wi-Fi ever -- but at the price of reduced range.

It’s called 802.11ad (previously WiGig). Unlike previous Wi-Fi incarnations that have operated in the very crowded 2.4 GHz band or the 5 GHz band, 802.11ad operates in the 60 GHz band. This allows it to achieve speeds of up to 7 Gbps, about 50 times faster than 802.11n. Much of the early work in 60 GHz was focused on sending video signals wirelessly from devices such as tablets to TVs, and blistering short-range file transfers. 802.11ad can certainly handle such tasks. However, the technology is so fast that it could enable whole new classes of devices such as wireless hard drives that feel as fast as locally connected ones. As early as mid-2013, Dell shipped a wireless docking station using 802.11ad that was reviewed favorably, save for the scarcity of notebooks that also supported the networking technology. 802.11ad, though, literally has the potential to reshape the PC, especially in light of Microsoft directions such as its Continuum technology, which lets a PC adjust itself when its keyboard is removed, or a smartphone to act like a computer when attached to an external display.

[Ross Rubin is principal analyst at Reticle Research]