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Samsung said Wednesday that it will ship a line of notebooks containing MIMO antennas, the technology bridging todays Wi-Fi and tomorrows 802.11n specification.
The new X20 and X25 notebooks integrate Airgo Networks MIMO technology—an array of multiple antennas that are designed to improve wireless throughput.
While the MIMO technology is at the heart of the 802.11n specification, Airgo does not have exclusive claim to the technology. Both the competing TGN Sync and WWiSE proposals both use the multiple antenna technology, but with different modulation schemes.
Airgo has also skirted an industry-standards bodys request to avoid characterizing Airgos “True MIMO” chipset as a version of the 802.11n specification.
Nevertheless, Airgo is currently shipping its second generation of the technology, which it claims offers a 20 percent cost savings over the first generation.
According to an Airgo-commissioned study, the TrueMIMO technology offers eight times the speed and 13 times the coverage as compared to the same notebook model with the latest model of the Intel Centrino wireless card.
True MIMO is compatible with current Wi-Fi technology, however.