The reference design will allow PCs to connect to nearby standard displays

Dec 11, 2007 10:59 GMT  ·  By

DisplayLink and Alereon have announced that they completed a reference design for a wireless display adapter to allow a personal computer or notebook to connect wirelessly to other standard displays in the close proximity without using any wired components.

This new reference design addresses original equipment manufacturers and gives them the opportunity of developing wireless display connectivity adapters using Alereon's Worldwide WiMedia Alliance?-certified AL5000 chipset and DisplayLink's network display technology. The wireless connectivity is alleged to preserve the same image quality achieved through standard wired interconnection, but at the same time, it would dramatically reduce the number of wires and patch-cords running along the house.

This technology uses Wireless USB for fast ultra-wide-band (UWB) speeds. The input and output signal can process resolutions of up to 1680 x 1050 and 16.7 million colors and can render smooth DVD video playback.

"A display connected using this wireless reference design feels and looks to a user exactly like a wired display", said Hamid Farzaneh, DisplayLink president and CEO. "As evidenced by the proliferation of wireless mice and keyboards, the availability of the technology to bring the same freedom to monitors is just what OEMs need to spur explosive growth in this market."

DisplayLink and Alereon currently provide the only Wireless USB design on the market to meet all the regulatory requirements across the globe. The design is based on Alereon's Worldwide WiMedia Alliance-certified AL5000 chipset and is guaranteed to be compatible with future Wireless USB-enabled notebook computers.

"Providing a standards-based design is critical for our OEM partners so they can be assured of compatibility with broadly available laptops and notebooks", said Eric Broockman, CEO of Alereon. "Our partners require the combination of standards-based wireless technology, exceptional throughput and worldwide footprint to achieve mass adoption."

DisplayLink technology is made of a Hardware Rendering Engine (HRE) network display chip and Virtual Graphics Card (VGC) software, while Alereon's AL5000 chipset uses a WiMedia Alliance-certified radio to communicate over the entire WiMedia spectrum from 3.1 GHz to 10.6 GHz.

The companies have announced that they will sustain a live demonstration at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES 2008) that will take place in Las Vegas between January 7th and 12.