Here’s a roundup of today’s networking related news from CES.
I’ve plowed through a few hundred emails and culled networking news you can use.
Powerline
Qualcomm Atheros announced the QCA6410, a single-chip solution supporting 200 Mbps IEEE 1901/HomePlug AV powerline applications. It has internal memory, 10/100 Ethernet PHY, analog front end/line driver and a power management unit in a single chip and draws less than 1.8 W. Samples of the QCA6410 chip are available now to customers with volume production scheduled for the second quarter of 2012.
The company also announced a software package that enables solutions in its Hy-Fi portfolio to comply with the recently approved IEEE 1905.1 draft standard for hybrid home networking combining Wi-Fi, HomePlug powerline, Ethernet and Multimedia over Coax (MoCA) technologies. The new software will be available this quarter.
Wi-Fi Display
Broadcom and Qualcomm Atheros made announcements here. Wi-Fi Display is the Wi-Fi Alliance’s answer to Intel’s proprietary WiDi wireless screen-casting products. I’ll be getting more info on Wi-Fi Display later today when I sit down with the Alliance. But in a nutshell, it uses peer-to-peer Wi-Fi Direct to share video and audio from one device, like a smartphone/tablet, to another, like an HDTV.
Broadcom announced a software stack to go along with its various Wi-Fi Display hardware offerings.
Qualcomm Atheros made a similar announcement, but said its Wi-Fi Display "connectivity solutions" are now available and will be demoed at the show. Q/A said they will support Android Ice Cream Sandwich, Windows 7 and 8 and sample in the first half of 2012.
Satellite Broadband
Good news, perhaps, for those of us in the U.S. stuck with limited broadband options. ViaSat is launching its Exede by ViaSat high-speed Internet service on January 16. The service is supposed to provide 12 Mbps down / 3 Mbps up Internet access.
Plans are metered, naturally with 7.5, 15 and 25 GB monthly plans priced at $49.99, $79.99 and $129.99, respectively. You can hit www.exede.com for more info, but you won’t find installation cost posted.
Wi-Fi
"Hi power" Wi-Fi product maker Amped Wireless announced the R10000G High Power Wireless-N 600mW Gigabit Router. This new addition to its "high power" product lineup is a single band 11b/g/n router with upgradable 5dBi external antennas and Gigabit ports.
Amped claims 10,000 square feet of coverage (they actually have a satisfaction guarantee on this) by using having up to 600mW of transmit power and low-noise amplifiers to boost receive range.
The R10000G will list for $149.99 and ships by the end of this month.
Other
In more media-shifing news, Qualcomm Atheros announced that its Skifta media shifting technology is moving into hardware form. The Skifta Wireless Audio Adapter is aimed at making devices to help consumers "retrofit their legacy audio devices with both connectivity and support for Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) and Universal Plug and Play (UPnP)". The development kit will be shipping in the first half of this year.