With the development of wireless networks, 5G network is approaching. It’s said 5G networks will be available. The wireless industry leaders such as Qualcomm and Intel are planning the new products to meet the network upgrade. Last month, Qualcomm Inc. has announced that they have successfully trialed a 5G data connection on their X50 5G modem. Qualcomm says during their trial they were able to successfully establish a 5G data connection on the X50 modem using 28GHz mmWave frequency band, with download speeds reaching over a gigabit per second.
Intel is also following the trend for 5G network. A couple of days ago, Intel also announced the Intel XMM 8000 series, which is its first family of 5G new radio (5G NR) multi-mode commercial modems. The XMM8060 is the first modem of the XMM 8000 series. Intel also announced its latest LTE modem, the Intel XMM7660, which will be made available in 2019.
Intel XMM8060 is the company’s first commercial 5G modem as a competitor to Qualcomm X50 5G modem. As the typical feature, the Intel XMM8060 is also multi-mode supporting full 5G non-standalone and standalone NR, as well as various 2G, 3G and 4G legacy modes. Thus enabling devices to work in different locations, including large cities with 5G standalone NR (this may be a distant future) as well as rural areas that have 2G or 3G networks. This is important as 5G availability will not be available everywhere all at once, and it will take years for its roll-out to complete, just like how it took years for 4G LTE to be adopted throughout the globe. The XMM8060 is expected to be adopted in customer devices since mid-2019 at earliest. As part of the announcement, the company reiterated its plans to offer a top-to-bottom XMM 8000 family of 5G modems for various applications, including smartphones, PCs, buildings and vehicles.
Intel has kept on developing LTE modems as well. With the Intel XMM8060, the XMM7660 4G LTE Modem was also presented as its second-generation Gigabit LTE modem capable of up to Cat 19 (1.6Gbps) downlink connections. It features MIMO, carrier aggregation, 256QAM and a broad range of band support. Intel expects commercial devices to adopt the XMM 7660 in 2019.
Intel says the series will enable a range of devices from PCs and phones to vehicles and fixed wireless consumer premise equipment to connect to 5G networks. And we will see when 5G coming.