Posted on Thursday, January 03 2013 @ 14:25 CET by Thomas De Maesschalck
FUD Zilla
writes Intel is working on Wilkins Peak, a new WLAN card that will support 802.11ac. The Wilkins Peak 2x2 AC is a 867Mbit card will be compatible with the Intel Shark Bay platforms that will debut by mid 2013 or late Q3 2013.
The card is codenamed Wilkins Peak 2 and is a 2x2 AC wireless card with support for Bluetooth. The fastest speed it’s capable of is 867Mbps in 2x2 AC mode but naturally it supports 802.11N. It also supports some common features such as Intel wireless display, Intel My Wi-Fi technology as well as Intel smart connect tech.
Early adopters of Windows 8 will be happy to hear that this card supports Windows 8 connected standby. It supports dual band 2.4GHz and 5GHz, multi stream, Intel vPro as well as Bluetooth 4. It comes as a PCIe or USB device in Half Minicard Next gen FF form.
Wilkins Peak 1 will take you all the way up to 433Mbps, as it has a 1x1 AC configuration and with one antenna you cannot get more than 433Mbps. It will definitely be a cheaper choice but on the first look in won’t support Intel vPro or Windows 8 connected standby. The rest of the spec is similar to Wilkins Peak 2.
Interestingly enough Intel has three additional cards codenamed Wilkins Peak 2 and these cards are 2x2 300Mbps b/g/n cards with or without Bluetooth.
