More than 15 technology companies on Thursday announced the Wireless Gigabit (WiGig) Alliance, an organization formed to establish a unified specification for 60GHz wireless technologies. The wireless 1Gb network technology will succeed the draft IEEE 802.11n that became de-facto standard ahead of its approval by IEEE.

“Our member companies are leaders in the wireless, CE, PC and handheld markets. They have the technical acumen and business experience to make the 60 GHz wireless technology a reality for both the home and enterprise. To help bring this technology to market, we welcome new member companies to join our group,” said Dr. Ali Sadri, president and chairman of the Wireless Gigabit Alliance.

WiGig Alliance members are defining a unified specification that leverages the unlicensed 60GHz spectrum to provide unprecedented wireless performance. This technology is being designed from the ground up to address the specific requirements of various platforms, to coexist with future 60 GHz solutions and complement millions of Wi-Fi devices already in use around the world. Wireless docking, display and entertainment, without performance compromise, will become a reality with gigabit-speed wireless I/O and eliminate the unsightly cables that clutter today’s homes and offices.

The 15 founding members of the WiGig alliance are Atheros Communications, Broadcom Corp., Dell, Intel Corp. LG Electronics, Marvell International, MediaTek, Microsoft Corp. NEC Corp., Nokia Corp. Panasonic Corp. Samsung Electronics and Wilocity.

The WiGig specification will allow devices to communicate without wires at gigabit speeds within a typical room. The group’s vision is to create a global ecosystem of interoperable products based on this specification, which will unify the next generation of entertainment, computing and communications devices at speeds more than 10 times faster than today’s wireless LANs.

The WiGig specification is expected to be available to member companies in Q4 of 2009.

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