New setback for you now that TI chooses 802.11n

Chip giant Texas Instruments has exited the Wimedia alliance. Given recent developments, the future of UUB-based technologies such as wireless USB does not look bright.

The Dallas company sees more benefit in 802.11n, the newest member of the Wi-Fi family. According to Yoram Solomon, senior director of technology strategy & industry relations, 802.11n is the right technology for fast, short-range wireless communications until ultra-wideband is mature enough. According to him, the lab results of uwb are promising, but the technique is not yet viable on a 5 by 5 millimeter slice of silicon next to two other radio transmitters in a telephone. Previously, the Bluetooth SIG has made the same decision and is now partnering with TI to base the latest incarnation of this technology on Wi-Fi.

Matt Lewis of Arcchart, a wireless communications research and consultancy firm, is doing another penny in the bag: in 2003 it was predicted that 150 million uwb devices would be on the market by the end of this year. At the moment there are only a handful of manufacturers who sell hardware that can communicate via one of the possible uwb variants. Examples include some laptops from the Dell and Lenovo range that offer USB wireless support.

“Wireless USB should succeed this year,” says Fiona Thomson of IMS Research. She adds that manufacturers have been promoting uwb since 2006, but prices are still too high to allow for market adoption. The chips cost around ten dollars each and should drop to two dollars before it is too late and the market embraces other technologies, the researcher said.