We have been hearing about ultra-wide band (UWB) for years, but where are all the UWB products? UWB is supposed to provide a standard, high-speed, wireless connection for your peripherals. Think “wireless USB”, or, “Bluetooth on steroids”. Imagine connecting cameras, printers, and storage devices using a wireless connection instead of a wired connection. Sounds pretty good! But where are all the UWB products?
Well, the problem is that there are at least 3 competing solutions. First, we have Cable-Free USB. Cable-Free is based on Icron’s ExtremeUSB technology running on top of Freescale’s UWB chipset. It is designed around the USB 2.0 specification so it uses the USB 2.0 drivers. In effect, it replaces a single USB connection with a wireless Hub and dongle approach. Unfortunately, it is not widely adopted. (Icron also provides a USB over 802.11g solution.)
Next we have the Certified Wireless USB approach that is based upon the WiMedia Alliance physical layer and MAC layer definition. This approach is back by heavyweights including HP, Intel, and Microsoft. Certified Wireless USB creates a new USB protocol and uses a Hub and spoke model, connecting up to 127 wireless USB devices. Unfortunately, chipsets are still in the $10 range, which is far too expensive for low margin consumer electronic devices.
WiFi Alliance
Lastly, we have 802.11n. Yup, good ole Wi-Fi can get the job done. In fact, this summer Texas Instruments withdrew from the WiMedia alliance in order to focus on 802.11n instead. Why? Well, consider this. Many consumer devices already have embedded WiFi. Why incur the power, space, and cost burden to add a UWB chipset when 802.11n is already available and will achieve 180+ Mbps? There will be over 450 million 802.11 chipsets sold this year and over 100 million will be 802.11n!
My bet is that Certified Wireless USB will not see widespread adoption and that 802.11n will become the dominant method for wirelessly connecting peripherals. No way, you say? Well, if you disagree, voice your opinion by commenting on this blog post.
paul, interesting article. Just thought I would add some clarification to the options.
Icron’s technology enables transparent USB 2.0 connectivity over any media, including UWB, 802.11abgn or 60GHz. It is not a proprietary interface, but rather seamlessly bridges Standard USB 2.0 over the air.
After the pullback from Freescale in UWB, Icron focused on 802.11 technologies and launched the first USB over 802.11g solution,and is currently selling it to a variety of customers.
The company is also looking at 802.11n as the natural next platform to implement to, so expect to see some USB 2.0 over 802.11n solutions in the market in the near future. This solution is not just use USB based PC interface to an 802.11 network, but actually gives you a “real” USB port at the remote end of a 802.11 connection.
We are huge supporters of standard based USB connectivity, and will continue to open up the market for new and interesting ways to use USB over 802.11n, UWB or even 60Ghz
Cheers
Robert Eisses, President Icron
Hi Robert, Thanks for the clarifying comments. I’ve updated the blog post a bit to improve accuracy. Paul
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This is an awesome netbook. Have had for 3 months now and have loved it all the while. Have traveled with as well use daily for note taking. Extremely light and portable. Still very usable I have no trouble typing at all even with my large hands. The battery life was the huge selling point for me and it is truly awesome. 10 hours is a bit optimistic but you can count on 8 to 9 consistently. All features worked excellently for me so far especially appreciate the touchpad lock button(great for taking notes) as well as the screen off function key. The touchpad has a nice feel the zoom in and out can be tricky to use but the vertical and horizontal(in word) work really well.
Gripes-
Heat not unbearable but fan get annoying when studying in library
Keyboard is not as sturdy as I would like has some minor flex
Zoom feature is not as smooth as could be
heavy rearward weight bias so much that it wants to fall backwards(but wont) with the screen pushed back all the way
doesnt