Wi-Fi coalition

Twenty six companies have formed the Enhanced Wireless Consortium (EWC) in the hope that they can speed up the 802.11n ratification process.

Between them, they have defined a Wi-Fi specification that addresses the PC and networking equipment market, as well as emerging handheld and consumer electronic applications.

The consortium has designed its specification to support speeds of up to 600 Mbit/sec, and is considering the inclusion of other advanced technologies – including Space Time Block Coding (STBC) and beamforming – that will enable systems to deliver greater range as well as support advanced multimedia applications.

The EWC will make its draft product specification available for public download and will provide implementation rights to all silicon suppliers and system vendors who join the organisation.

Among the current members are Airoha, Apple, Atheros, Azimuth, Broadcom, Buffalo, Cisco Systems, Conexant, D-Link, Intel Corporation, Lenovo, Linksys, LitePoint, Marvell, Metalink, NETGEAR, Ralink, Realtek, Sanyo, Sony, Symbol Technologies, Toshiba, USRobotics, WildPackets, Winbond and ZyDAS.

If the EWC specification is ratified by the IEEE, EWC members have agreed to make their relevant intellectual property (IP) available to all parties on reasonable and non-discriminatory (RAND) terms.

For additional information about the Enhanced Wireless Consortium and a complete listing of member companies, please visit http://www.enhancedwirelessconsortium.org.

The members of the EWC will continue to work within the IEEE Task Group “N” to ratify the 802.11n standard.