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Both Wireless USB and UWB
Bluetooth to flourish
7 August, 2006
By Mark Cox
Certified Wireless USB and UWB Bluetooth offer differing
opportunities for vendors aiming at mass markets for devices
using short-range connectivity. Will they have to choose one
or the other? A new ABI Research study has concluded that
there will be room for both.
"The application protocols that will run over WiMedia
solutions are one of the most interesting and hotly contested
areas in the short range connectivity market place today,"
said principal analyst Stuart Carlaw. "Startups in this
market are moving to all-CMOS implementations in order to
drive down the cost of devices and stimulate volume growth.
Unfortunately the result is that they need to realize volume
shipments within a small window of time, since the margins
per chip are extremely low. In essence, UWB vendors need to
secure a vehicle to mass market and both Bluetooth and USB
hold the key to that door in the form of cellular handsets
and the PC peripheral markets, respectively."
So is it really a question of one over the other? Timing
and potential are the critical notions in understanding this
question. W-USB is here today and commercial product launches
are imminent. Bluetooth over WiMedia is still two or three
years away. The Bluetooth market realized 317 million unit
shipments of ICs in 2005 and is set to reach over 500 million
in 2006. But the USB market realizes an installed base in
the billions of ports. This pattern of size and timing clearly
illustrates that things are in the balance.
Carlaw concluded that "W-USB will enable start-up IC
vendors to carve out significant niches for themselves. Broad-line
IC vendors will crash in as UWB hits the handset market with
a vengeance, a development which will coincide with Bluetooth
ratification of the high data rate standard. There will be
room for both, especially in recognition of the ability of
WiMedia to support multiple application protocols on the same
IC."
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Reprinted by permission of Integrated
mar.com (integratedmar.com), EchannelLine © Copyright
2006 Integratedmar.com Corporation.
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