Broadcom Sets Off 5G Wi-Fi with New BCM43460 System-On-Chip

Broadcom is aiming to assert itself as the leader in 5G Wi-Fi with the launch of the new BCM43460, the first ever 5G Wi-Fi system-on-chip (SoC) that is capable of enabling the fastest on-the-move gigabit connectivity for PC, netbooks, tablets and smartphones.

The new dual-band (2.4 and 5 GHz) IEEE 802.11ac draft 3 x 3 compliant MAC/PHY/Radio complete SoC is stated to be complaint with legacy 802.11 technologies and it is integrated with Broadcom’s explicit and implicit transmit beam-forming technology that offers extended range capacity and coverage in enterprise wireless networks.

Broadcom views the 5G Wi-Fi as the next generation Wi-Fi standard required for today’s mobile and video era. Based on 802.11ac, 5G Wi-Fi is a major evolutionary step from the existing 802.11a/b/g/n networks and is 3x faster and 6x more power efficient than previous generation 802.11an devices.

Some of the innovative features that are built into the new BCM43460 are enterprise focused airtime fairness – capable of supporting denser environment of mixed speed Wi-Fi devices to ensure highest performance; advanced spectrum analysis – blends in-depth RF analysis with real-time WLAN information for real-time trouble-shooting of performance problems; industry standardized system support for WPA, WPA2, hardware accelerated AES encryption/decryption TKIP and IEEE 802.1X which enables state-of-the-art security; fully integrated dual-band radio transceiver supports 3 x 3 antennas for date rates up to 1.3 Gbps; and more.

Infonetics stated that as mobile devices proliferate among users, and enterprises centralize their data and applications in the cloud, enterprise wireless networks must evolve to deliver faster throughput, higher capacity, and broader coverage. 802.11ac delivers on all of these, and the company expects enterprises to enthusiastically embrace this next generation wireless technology once it is available in the market place.

Officials with Broadcom added that enterprise networks are on the cusp of a new mobile computing era in which tablets and smartphones will be ubiquitous in the workplace. Broadcom is at the forefront of developing the latest wireless technologies for the enterprise, delivering the connectivity capabilities needed to meet the growing demands of an unwired workforce.

In other news, Broadcom’s Converged Network Adapters (CNAs), which have been addressing the growing demand for virtualization in data centers, have recently earned the Fiber Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) certification on VMware vSphere 5.