Wi-Fi Alliance selects Marvell's Avastar 802.11ac 2x2 combo solution with NFC and Bluetooth for Wi-Fi CERTIFIED ac test suite

USA: Marvell announced that the Marvell Avastar 88W8897, the industry's first 802.11ac 2x2 mobile MIMO combo radio solution with near field communications (NFC) and Bluetooth 4.0 support, was selected by Wi-Fi Alliance to the Wi-Fi CERTIFIED ac test suite.

Marvell's strong track record of consistently delivering robust, highly-integrated, breakthrough wireless solutions—which include the latest advancements such as  802.11ac, mobile multiple input multiple output (MIMO), near field communications (NFC), FM, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS and Wi-Fi CERTIFIED Miracast and Wi-Fi CERTIFIED Passpoint — have successfully empowered leading service providers and top-tier enterprise and consumer manufacturers around the world.

The Avastar 88W8897 – which pairs today's most cutting-edge technology to bring superior wireless performance to Chrome, Windows and Android ultrabooks, tablets, gaming consoles and smart TVs – is now in production, with consumer electronics featuring Avastar expected by the 2013 holiday season.

The Avastar 88W8897 is the only 802.11ac 2x2 combo radio solution currently available on the market. The low-power, dual-band (2.4/5 GHz) IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n/ac 2x2 combo is specifically designed to support the reliability and quality requirements of next-generation, Very High Throughput (VHT) WLAN products. The 88W8897 is also the only chip that increases throughput with 802.11ac technology while simultaneously leveraging NFC to enable simple tap-and-go wireless capabilities.
Additionally, the 88W8897 offers the highest level of integration available, including dual-band power amplifiers and power management, resulting in significant RBOM and footprint reduction from comparable solutions.

When paired with tablets and ultrabooks, the 88W8897 is designed to enable an Always On, Always Connected (AOAC) wireless experience, keeping e-mail, social media and digital content up-to-date even when a device is in standby mode – a capability lacking in legacy mobile computing products.

By coupling Marvell's full Wi-Fi offload solution with Windows 8 features such as Wake On Wireless functionality and Connected Standby (CS), the Avastar 88W8897 is expected to meet the demands of today's connected consumer and deliver the AOAC computing experience.