Qualcomm Atheros Inc., the networking and connectivity subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated on Tuesday launched the new QCA9005AP 802.11ac reference design for wireless routers, gateways and enterprise access points.

Using an on board processor and power efficient radio architecture, the 802.11ac platform can accelerate mainstream adoption of Gigabit wireless products for home and business networks. The new reference platform features the QCA9558 dual-band, 3-stream 802.11n system on chip (SoC), the QCA9880 3-stream 802.11ac radio solution, and the AR8327 Gigabit Ethernet switch.

Qualcomm Atheros’ entire family of 802.11ac solutions from networking to mobile and computing was designed with on board processors and hardware acceleration to offload Wi-Fi processing from the host CPU. This architectural advantage enables highly efficient Gigabit wireless performance without the use of costly, power-hungry, Gigabit class processors.

By pairing the QCA9880 802.11ac radio with the QCA9558 802.11n SoC, networking OEMs can build cost effective and power efficient 802.11ac-enabled products that are capable of aggregate PHY rates of up to 1.7 Gbps. This dual-band platform will help drive the market transition to the latest Wi-Fi technology and enable customers to deliver home routers, carrier gateways and enterprise access points (APs) in time for the first wave of 802.11ac certification, which the Wi-Fi Alliance has scheduled for the first quarter of 2013.

As Wi-Fi is increasingly used to stream data-intensive content such as videos, movies, gaming and music, Qualcomm Atheros’ 802.11ac solutions enable the most seamless HD video grade performance across crowded, busy networks. The forthcoming 802.11ac standard operates in the 5 GHz band to ensure smooth, interference free media transfers. Qualcomm Atheros’ new QCA9005AP platform ensures backward compatibility with virtually all legacy Wi-Fi devices in the home by offering dual-band connectivity in both the 2.4 and 5 GHz bands.

“Earlier this year, Qualcomm Atheros led the 802.11ac transition with the industry’s first 802.11ac multi-connectivity chip for mobile devices. We are now driving the propagation of mainstream Gigabit networking solutions with a new, highly efficient, dual-band 802.11ac platform,” said Dan Rabinovitsj, senior vice president and general manager, networking business unit, Qualcomm Atheros. “With this flexible and efficient networking platform, Qualcomm Atheros is delivering solutions for the entire ecosystem of networked devices and ensuring a smooth migration to Gigabit capable Wi-Fi.”