Long road to SuperSpeed USB

Lost UWB
Meanwhile the push for wireless USB has "lost its window of opportunity," said the PC manager, pointing to the closure of many startups and an industry group backing it. Indeed, one market watcher predicted UWB in general will virtually die off by 2013.

"Now with 60GHz technology getting a lot of executive ear time, we don't believe UWB will gain traction," the PC manager said.

However, 60GHz is no slam dunk as the next big wireless interface for systems, he added. Contention over the market direction for the technology between the Wireless Gigabit Alliance and the Wireless HD could slow or even derail adoption, he said.

"It's a discontinuity in the industry, and we are not interested in supporting multiple organizations for one technology," he said. "The companies in both groups need to take a mature, adult approach and merge the two," he added.

On the technical front, a handful of 60GHz startups should leverage existing UWB silicon technologies so they can concentrate their efforts on the challenge of designing 60GHz radios in CMOS, he said. Existing 60GHz startups are wasting time and resources designing baseband and media access controllers rather than licensing available IP.

"I've seen this movie ten times before," he added.

Besides SiBeam, one of the early pioneers in 60GHz, Beam Networks in Tel Aviv and a startup called Nitero in Australia are among those developing 60GHz chips.

PC makers believe 60 GHz offers uses for TV, PC and handheld systems in the home and for office PCs that don't need a wired link to external monitors.

The Wi-Fi Alliance could act as a certification and testing agency for the technology, the source said. He believes if all goes well it could make it into mainstream products in late 2011.

- Rick Merritt
EE Times

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