Marvell Avastar 88W8897: Wifi 802.11ac, NFC and Bluetooth 4.0 Chip

Marvell has announced the Avastar 88W8897, a low-power radio chip supporting 802.11ac, near field communication (NFC) and Bluetooth 4.0, aimed at mobile and HD multimedia devices such as ultrabooks, tablets, gaming consoles and smart TVs.

Marvell claims the 88W8897 SoC enables a rest of bill of materials (RBOM) footprint reduction of 40-to-50 percent and cost reduction of 75 percent compared to previous wireless solutions.

Key features of Marvell Avastar 88W8897 chip include:

• Wi-Fi 802.11ac – This standard increases bandwidth available over the Wi-Fi link (theoretically up to 1 Gb/s) with throughput up to 867 Mbps for the 88W8897. This kind of throughput allows reliable high-definition (HD) video streaming, tunneled direct link setup (TDLS) and high-speed wireless backup and sync for mobile devices.
• NFC – NFC allows consumers to pay for items with the tap of a phone via mobile commerce and point-of-sale (e-wallet) applications. It can also enable one-tap pairing for Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. You can check Using NFC for Bluetooth Pairing for details on this feature.
• WI-FI CERTIFIED Miracast – This is a new certification program by the Wi-Fi alliance for devices that have implemented the Wi-Fi Display Specification (not yet published or publicly available). This standard allows streaming video wirelessly to a larger display using the 5GHz band while simultaneously surfing the Internet using the 2.4GHz band. Certified products (all vendors) should start to be available in August.
• Integrated Location Engine –A Wi-Fi location engine enables accurate indoor positioning by implementing the 802.11v time of flight protocol in hardware. It can be used in conjunction with GPS and sensor data by location applications.

Marvell did not disclose availability nor pricing, but the company is currently demonstrating this solution at  Computex 2012, at the Taiwan International Convention Center in Taipei, Taiwan.

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