We met up with Broadcom, which is in the process of being acquired by Avago Technologies (a deal that should be complete by 1st February). However, the setup was the same as previous years and the firm had a meeting room area at the back of the South Hall.
The first system we looked at was a completely wireless “design concept” of an STB with no wires, using wireless power delivery as well as WiGig wi-fi to communicate. We discussed the slow roll out of WiGig and Broadcom reminded us that one of the key factors in pushing WiFi into the market initially was the huge push given by chip giant Intel, when it made promotions with its Centrino chip sets from 2003 to 2010. We heard an estimate of half a billion dollars being spent by Intel to drive the technology. Nobody is spending so much on WiGig, so it will take more time to come in, as 802.11ac has done.
This Broadcom wireless concept uses no cables at all. Image:Meko Ltd
Broadcom is pushing on the performance of its SoCs and was demonstrating a single chip decoding four video streams as well as rendering a display stream, which allows the use of a single chip in security camera applications. It was also showing VP9 support and 802.11ac with a 4×4 antenna array. The company was also demonstrating Android running at UltraHD resolution.
