Wireless Tech Chat

Wireless HD

Wireless HD can simply be thought of as sending a boatload of data across a wireless link, except that it is a data flow many, many times greater than your average home network. To put it in perspective, the amount of digital information required to show a movie in high definition is comparable to the data pipe required to light up an entire office building with run-of-the-mill broadband Internet.

In fact, because of the tremendous amount of data that SiBeam’s 60 GHz spectrum range can carry, it has been used on the rooftops of buildings to beam data from one building to another. Another use might be for a bank with several locations that wants to build a single, giant network. The 60 GHz spectrum has also been used by the military, mostly the Navy, to beam information back and forth between ships at sea.

The technology’s main drawback until now is that it requires exotic chip fabrication to build the radios. That translates to price tags for 60 GHz networking gear that run into tens of thousands of dollars. That expense might be worth it if you are the U.S. Navy or a large bank occupying most of a building, but not if you are a couch potato just looking to watch some HD television without plugging in a cable.

Over five years and with about $75 million in venture capital funding (raised from Foundation Capital, New Enterprise Associates and US Venture Partners as well as a strategic investment in December from Panasonic and Samsung), SiBeam has built 60 GHz chips using standard chip fabrication materials and techniques. What that means is that in a few months, for a few hundred dollars, you’ll be able to beam almost as much data wirelessly across your living room as the Navy does across the ocean.