Philips Brings HD Wireless Capability to the Connected Home

June 8, 2006; 01:54 AM
Philips announced the signing of an agreement with Metalink Ltd. for use of its high-speed 802.11n 5GHz WiFi solution in Philips Connected Home semiconductor solutions. The agreement allows Philips to offer complete solutions for wireless high definition (HD) content distribution at speeds five to 10 times faster than currently available wireless LAN 802.11a/b/g technologies.

Based on the 802.11n WiFi standard, Metalink's wireless solution will provide connections for Philips advanced TV, set-top box (STB) and digital media adapter (DMA) system reference designs to ensure reliable in-home transport of HD video. This facilitates a truly Connected Home where consumers will be able to connect to information and entertainment services from IP, terrestrial, cable and satellite providers anytime and anywhere. Featuring MIMO technology adopted by the 802.11n standardization, Metalink's WLANPlus(TM) chipset can deliver multiple HDTV streams to any location within a radius of 100 feet in the 5GHz frequency band.

"We believe that in 2007, driven by the adoption of the 802.11n standard, WiFi chipsets will be widely used by consumer electronics manufacturers for products such as HDTV displays and DVRs," said Philip Solis, senior analyst at ABI Research. "We expect the number of WiFi ICs sold into consumer electronics to grow from 6.6 million units in 2004 to over 70 million units in 2007."

"With 802.11n WiFi in our digital TV, STB and DMA reference designs, people will now be able to enjoy digital content anywhere in their homes with the reliability they expect," said Guus Frericks, vice president and general manager, BL-Set Top Box & Home Media Devices at Philips Semiconductors. "With the growing number of devices and products using the 2.4GHz band, the increased interference on this band necessitated a shift to 5GHz. The Metalink 802.11n wireless solution is an industry leading design with MIMO technology for multiple simultaneous HD video connections."

"The performance we achieve is a result of our WLANPlus incorporating the most challenging elements of the emerging 802.11n standard specification while combining them with proprietary innovative architectures," said David Pereg, Metalink's VP of corporate development. "Philips advanced products and commitment to deliver reference designs makes them an ideal partner for us."

Philips STB810, advanced system solutions targeting IP and dual functionality (IP and broadcast) set top boxes (STBs) and the WLANPlus 802.11n are on demonstration at the Philips Semiconductors booth (2F, 201A) at Computex 2006, Taipei.

Philips semiconductor system solution portfolio using Metalink's WLANPlus chipset will be available from Q4 2006.