IBM and MediaTek develop chip, transfers 10G in 5 seconds

The new chip made by IBM and MediaTek uses ultra-high 60GHz frequency.

IBM Corp. and MediaTek Inc. announced that they developed a next-generation wireless chipset that can transfer 10 gigabytes of data in 5 seconds, compared to 10 minutes needed with current Wi-Fi transmissions.

MediaTek, the designer, said the chip uses ultra-high 60GHz frequency that is a free band featuring a large amount of bandwidth with worldwide capacities.

10G transfers in 5 seconds can only mean HD TV can be transferred, uncompressed and could be streamed wirelessly using a mmWave connection, making it ideal for such applications that link between top boxes and Televisions. The IEEE 802.15.3c working group will eventually standardize the use of the 60GHz band.

IBM has been working on the technology since 2003 and will be collaborating with MediaTek for the next three years. IBM demonstrated a fully integrated 60GHz receiver and transmitter chipset last year which achieved 630 Mbps transmissions at a maximum range of ten meters. The new claims have speeds around 16 Gbps.

MediaTek announced last month it is to buy Analog Devices Inc's wireless chip business for $350 million. MediaTek also has significant expertise in digital baseband and video processing.

Both companies are working to produce a 65 nm manufacturing process on CMOS, the most widely used chip manufacturing technology.