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VIRTUALISATION Alereon chip may signal doom for USB cables
VIRTUALISATION Alereon chip may signal doom for USB cables | Alereon chip may signal doom for USB cables |
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| by Stephen Withers | |
| Tuesday, 19 June 2007 | |
  
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The Alereon AL5100 RF transceiver is claimed to be the first device that covers all 14 bands of the WiMedia UWB spectrum. Thus a peripheral or computer using this chip could be configured through software to operate legally in any country where UWB is permitted. "The AL5100 will provide our customers the flexibility to develop their products such that they can work in any region of the world, and be assured of compliance to local UWB regulations." stated Eric Broockman, CEO of Alereon. "The ability to design a single system that is compliant to specifications across the globe is a huge value add to PC, peripheral and portable electronics manufacturers." In addition, the AL5000 chipset allows the use of 17 channels in Japan and Korea, rather then the single channel supported by other products. The AL5000 is software compatible with the existing AL4000 family (for Wireless USB), but as development boards won't be available until the third quarter, it is likely to be 2008 before we see the first products based on the new chipset. While existing wireless technologies such as Bluetooth are adequate for low-bandwidth applications such as connecting a keyboard and mouse to a PC, transferring large amounts of data such as digital photos from a camera or to a printer require a much higher transmission rate. While UWB has a theoretical bandwidth of 480Mbps (the same as USB 2.0) the actual throughput will probably be significantly slower, at least for for the first generation of devices. In any event, the actual throughput of any communications technology rarely matches the nominal speed. Wireless USB is not the only specification that will take advantage of the WiMedia platform - the next version of Bluetooth will also be based on this flavour of UWB. "Last fall, the USB Implementers Forum announced plans to extend Certified Wireless USB specification to support the upper band requirements of the WiMedia standard," said Jeff Ravencraft, chairman and president of the USB Implementers Forum. "With the AL5100 supporting all six WiMedia band groups, Alereon is well positioned to support Certified Wireless USB at these higher frequencies." Michael Foley, executive director of the Bluetooth Special Interest Group said the SIG "is hard at work on the high-speed version of its technology, based upon the combination of Bluetooth technology and WiMedia. Availability of WiMedia hardware this early in the market supports the planned introduction of High Speed Bluetooth technology in 2008 that operates in the unlicensed spectrum above 6GHz."{moscomment} |
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