The industry group behind the
Bluetooth wireless standard announced on Tuesday that it has received clearance
from the FCC to increase Blutooth transfer rates by utilizing a version of the new radio technology known as ultra-wideband or UWB that is under development by the WiMedia Alliance consortium. This would allow Bluetooth enabled devices to
communicate at speeds near that of USB or FireWire connections at distances up
to 10 feet.
UWB technology developments
are the product of two industry groups, WiMedia Alliance, which includes
Hewlett-Packard Co. Intel Corp. and Microsoft Corp. and a smaller UWB forum
centered around Motorola spin-off Freescale Semiconductor Inc. The two groups
have tried for years to form a single standard, but earlier this year officially
gave up on those efforts. Although neither group has representation in the
current marketplace, Freescale's technology is expected to arrive first in the
form of attachments that can wirelessly link a laptop to a USB hub. WiMedia
Alliance's UWB Bluetooth devices aren't expected to appear until late 2007 with
wider availability coming in 2008.
View: WiMedia Alliance
News source: Associated Press
