The 8 x 8-mm SoC operates in the traditional 3.1 to 10.6GHz Certified Wireless USB space and, Samsung says, delivers 120Mbits/s data rates compared to the typical 50Mbits/s achieved with current solutions.

The company says the W-USB SoC can download a 700MB movie in approximately one minute. The SoC has a built-in ARM core, a UWB physical layer, and a memory controller. It also provides an SD card, an MMC, a NAND flash memory, and a high-speed USB 2.0 OTG (On-The-Go) interface without additional logic circuitry.

Initially it will be targeted at digital cameras and mobile phones and gradually expand to other peripheral electronic devices such as wireless printers, beam projectors, wireless hard disks, wireless displays, and wireless speakers.

The W-USB chip has significant security features such as a 128 bit AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) encryption algorithm and a static signal to safeguard data during transmission. It is said to consume just 300mW of power.

Samsung has just started sampling the device, and says it will be in volume production beginning the second quarter of the year.

Samsung is a member of the Wireless USB Promoter Group that pushes the "Certified Wireless USB" standard.

However, it is interesting that the company's announcement makes no mention of the Promoters Group or the standard, and some are speculating this may be a proprietary device.