IBM Corp. and Taiwanese chip designer MediaTek Inc. on
Monday announced a three-year pact to develop wireless chipsets for a new technology
to transmit large volumes of information, such as full-length high definition
(HD) movies, between DVD players, HD-TVs, hand-held devices or other gadgets
around the home or office.

The chipsets will use IBM Labs' mmWave (millimeter wave) radio technology as
a faster wireless networking alternative to Wi-Fi.

The companies will promote mmWave as a way to eliminate wires between HD-TVs,
set-top boxes, DVD players and PCs.

They will focus their efforts on improving the range of mmWave technology,
and developing a manufacturing technique for the chipsets, said David Faircloth,
vice-president of sales and distribution for global engineering solutions at
IBM Asia Pacific.

IBM has spent the past four years developing mmWave technology. Last year,
the company demonstrated prototype chipsets the size of a U.S. dime able to
wirelessly transmit uncompressed HD video.

The U.S. technology giant will work with MediaTek to further develop the chipsets.
IBM will put its mmWave radio chips, antenna and package technology and patents
into the venture, while MediaTek will bring its expertise in digital baseband
and video processing chips to the table, the companies said in a joint statement.

Once the chipsets are ready, IBM and MediaTek will both work with global electronics
partners to adopt mmWave technology in their products. MediaTek has had great
success in selling mobile phone and baseband chips in China, a market most companies
globally are itching to take advantage of. The Taiwanese company is estimated
to be the largest mobile chipset provider in the country by some analysts.

Over the course of the development project, IBM and MediaTek expect to move
the chipset from the existing 130-nanometer manufacturing process on silicon
germanium, to a 65 nm manufacturing process on the most widely used chip manufacturing
technology, CMOS (Complementary metal-oxide semiconductor).

The companies face hurdles with mmWave. They will have to develop an entire
ecosystem for the technology, including gaining acceptance for its use in products,
possible industry standards and radio spectrum space. They will also have to
pit it against potent rivals, including WiMax wireless broadband, which is also
faster than Wi-Fi. WiMax is backed by a number of heavy hitters, including Intel
Corp. and Motorola Inc.

Faircloth said IBM's market influence can help with building an ecosystem around
the technology, and pointed out that both IBM and MediaTek can turn to global
partners to help with adoption of the technology as well.

IBM was not immediately able to answer questions about the performance of mmWave
transmitting data wirelessly through walls or other barriers inside a home or
office.

Most of the work on the mmWave chipsets will take place in three locations,
at IBM's TJ Watson Research Center, IBM's Tokyo Research Lab and MediaTek's
Hsinchu facility, and involve engineers from both companies.

IDG News Service

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