WiGig publishes 7 Gbps wireless home networking spec

Exactly one year after making its public debut, the Wireless Gigabit Alliance (also known as WiGig) has published its spec for the unlicensed 60 GHz band, which it is pushing as a new, faster standard for home networking.

The 60 GHz WiGig spec is not meant to be a replacement to current 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz Wi-Fi technologies, but instead to act as a complement that is targeted to devices requiring gigabit speeds, like HD video. While the new spec supports data transfer rates up to 7 Gbps, the high absorption of 60 GHz waves make it suitable only for short-distance communication.

In addition to publishing the first WiGig spec today, the group announced the participation of some new partners, including Cisco, Samsung Electromechanics, Harman International, Peraso Technologies, and the Wi-Fi Alliance.

The Wi-Fi Alliance and the WiGig Alliance today said they will share technology specs for the development of a new Wi-Fi certification program that includes the 60 GHz WiGig band. This will eventually mean tri-band routers which offer faster speeds, but backward compatibility.

"Now that our specification is complete and published, it's time to set our sights on driving a great user experience through interoperability and certification," said Dr. Ali Sadri, President and Chairman of the WiGig Alliance today. "We are happy to work with the Wi-Fi Alliance to extend multi-gigabit capabilities to the Wi-Fi technology portfolio."