MediaTek Inc recently joined hands with IBM to work on developing a wireless communication technology that it claims will be a 100 times faster than Wi-Fi. Here's a sneak peek into the technology that may change the rules of the game, and the practices that make MediaTek a seasoned innovator.

Alexander Graham Bell once said, "Great discoveries and improvements invariably involve the cooperation of many minds." IBM and MediaTek may soon prove the long-held adage true!

MediaTek Inc, in collaboration with IBM, is all set to give wireless communication the speed and attributes that it has never experienced ever before. The collaboration is aimed at developing ultra-fast wireless chipsets that may soon make the nearly instantaneous transfer of a full-length high-definition movie possible, wirelessly, to and from home PCs, hand-held devices or retail kiosks. The new technology will allow consumers to evade the hassles caused by cumbersome wires needed to connect their HDTVs to set-top boxes, and allow the placement of devices anywhere that is convenient.

The (soaring) mmWave

Both IBM and MediaTek Inc will combine their expertise in millimetre-wave (mmWave) radio technology and digital chipsets to create revolutionary multimedia wireless products. The large bandwidth for data transmission available at the mmWave frequency band enables at least 25x higher data rates than current Wi-Fi standards. The new technology would be 100 times faster than available Wi-Fi technology.

As per the information released by IBM, the large bandwidth for data transmission available at the mmWave frequency band will make data transmission at least 100 times faster than the current Wi-Fi standards. For example, a 10-gigabyte file could be uploaded in five seconds with the new technology versus ten minutes, using the current Wi-Fi technology.

The mmWave wireless technology enables multimedia content downloads or uncompressed HDTV (high-definition television) streaming from a DVD player. It also facilitates download and synchronisation of iPod-like devices with music and videos in seconds; and that too, wirelessly.

MediaTek's wide area network

MediaTek Inc was founded in 1997 in Hsinchu, Taiwan. It was originally a part of UMC (a leading wafer foundry based in Taiwan). The company provides SOC (System-on-a-chip) solutions for wireless communications, high-definition digital TV, optical storage, and high-definition DVD products.

MediaTek has sales and research subsidiaries in mainland China, Singapore, India, the US, Japan, Korea, Ireland, Denmark and England. MediaTek's product portfolio includes GSM baseband/RF (radio frequency), GPRS (general packet radio service) baseband/RF and multimedia EDGE (enhanced data rates for GSM evolution) baseband/RF, and TD-SCDMA (time division-synchronous code division multiple access). It also covers HSDPA (high-speed downlink packet access) and other peripheral ICs (integrated circuits) including Bluetooth, FM Radio, Wi-Fi, GPS, DVB-H (digital video broadcasting-handheld)), Wi-MAX and more.

At present, MediaTek has business relationships with many market leaders in the consumer electronics and wireless communication industries. The company's clientele includes global companies like LG, Philips, Samsung, Alcatel-TCL, Liteon IT, Sony, Hitachi, Pioneer and Lenovo, to name a few.

MediaTek India Technology (MTI) also is the sales and research subsidiary of MediaTek Inc. MTI is presently into providing chipset solutions for handsets in India. The MTI R&D team has applied for many patents in India, as well as in the US, in the last four years.