Compromise Spec, IEEE 1394 On Tap for UWB

Motorola Inc. execs are preparing a surprise compromise proposal to remove the ultrawideband standards logjam, executives said Monday. Meanwhile, Intel Corp. this week plans to demonstrate wireless versions of IEEE 1394, USB, and other services running on early third-party UWB silicon.

The nascent ultrawideband (UWB) technology will receive a boost this week at the Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco, where Intel, Texas Instruments, and another member of the Multiband-OFDM Alliance (MBOA) plan a demonstration of the technology Wednesday, according to Intel spokeswoman Kari Skoog.

The three companies will show off a USB as well as an IEEE 1394 platform adaptation layer running on top of the UWB hardware, according to sources, who added that a third layer optimized for quality-of-service (QOS) multimedia IP traffic would also be designed in. Intels Skoog confirmed the USB and IEEE 1394 demonstration, but said she was not aware of a QOS specification. She denied that the UWB demo will use Intel silicon, however, as other reports have indicated.

But while the demonstration is sure to boost interest in the nascent UWB technology, Motorola and the opposing MBOA consortium sit at loggerheads, unable to vote the standard into final approval. Later this month, however, executives at Motorola Inc. plan to extend an olive branch to Intel and the other members of the rival specification, in the form of a compromise common signaling protocol that would bridge the competing specifications.

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