(via Marvell)
Marvell Technology Group Ltd is a leading developer in storage, communications, and consumer silicon solutions. Their latest creation, the Avastar 88W8897, will be keeping them on top for some time. The chip is designed to integrate smoothly into ultrabooks, smart TVs, gaming systems, and tablets with an advanced power management system.
The Avastar is one of the first chips that will increase bandwidth as needed by using the IEEE 802.11ac wireless communication standard. This allows multiple-station WLAN to push 867 Mbps wirelessly alongside other communication protocols. Using the combination yields other benefits, applications will have low power consumption, longer battery life, and multi-streaming HD capabilities. Within the same chip there is pairing of several different wireless technologies, the chip features near field communication (NFC), Bluetooth 4.0, and Wi-Fi certified Miracast.
Due to such a highly integrated chip it allows much less materials to be used in systems, thus reducing required space inside devices. In addition, cost will be about 75% less than current wireless connectivity systems. Avastar 88W8897 will most likely introduce the world to the always on, always connected (AOAC) computing experience while not draining the world of energy. Furthermore, with its NFC capabilities we may soon see the dawn of e-money transfers in most devices. (The 88W8897 can support an e-wallet application for smart phones.)
Similar combinations of wireless connectivity systems have been combined before, but none have managed to boast all the features of the 88W8897. It is the smallest chip to be manufactured to date. With 50% smaller foot print and 75% reduction in cost over rivals, Marvell has certainly raised the bar significantly with this chip. New smart devices will enhance user's experience while offering developers a limitless playground to create new applications and products. Within a year we could expect to see new electronic devices featuring these chips, possibly sooner.
See Broadcom's 5G offering, for a comparison.
Eavesdropper
