A new report from the
Diffusion Group suggests that UWB technology will face tough obstacles on the way to widespread
market penetration. The study predicts that 802.11n integrated circuits will leave a tough road for UWB to travel
because, as the Diffusion Group suggests, UWB does not have: (1) rapid standards adoption with interoperability
assurance control, and (2) backwards compatibility that also serves to accelerate the replacement cycle of the
installed base of 802.11n predecessors.
Other key findings of the report include:
- 802.11n will establish significant market presence in 2006 and thereafter experience growth acceleration with
emerging deployment solutions optimized for multimedia and WLAN-based communications.
- UWB faces much tougher obstacles on its road to widespread diffusion:
- A lack of consensus around a single standard and no systems interoperability among alternatives will increase
the risks that manufacturers will face, thus adversely affecting deployment;
- Given present spectral limitations, UWB technologies do not currently present a dramatically better option when
compared to existing wireless solutions and will thus face a very tough battle with the next generation of 802.11
technologies; and
- The technical and quality requirements for home multimedia networks and the ad-hoc networking development
underway will severely limit multimedia and communication network opportunities for UWB.
- UWB systems will not see widespread deployment until 2007, after a single standard is agreed upon and the
confirmation of promised performance/price characteristics of UWB implementations.
