Intel walks away from ultrawideband

 

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By Stuart Turton

Posted on 6 Nov 2008 at 14:42

Intel has quietly halted development of ultrawideband technologies, leaving doubts hanging over the future of the standard.

Intel established the department to develop UWB chips five years ago, but now claims it will be cheaper to source components externally than to research and build them in-house. The news is another blow for the technology which recently saw market leader WiQuest shut it doors.

UWB is a potential wireless replacement for USB, with proponents of the technology claiming speeds could reach 480Mb/sec.

The wireless technology has been touted as the next big thing for a number of years, and even put on a strong showing at this year's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

Microsoft has announced native support for the standard in the forthcoming Windows 7, though it now appears that UWB might not even survive to the 2010 release date.

Despite such setbacks, UWB still has supporters. Eric Broockman, chief executive of WiQuest-rival Alereon, argues that the road to commercial success for every major technology - including Wi-Fi, Ethernet and even Bluetooth - is littered with big companies that went under.

"Some industry pundits will proclaim UWB is dead or that this is some form of setback to the industry. Not so. Those of us in the high tech business have seen this movie many times before," says Broockman on his blog.

"As a continued history lesson, when the Bluetooth standard began, again there were dozens of startups. They were competing against Ericsson and other major semiconductor manufacturers. Cambridge Silicon Radio, now called CSR, was not the first to market, but it brought the best to market."