Leveraging the 700 million USB-enabled devices worldwide, Freescale Semiconductor and Icron Technologies Corp. have demonstrated the industry's first USB 2.0 wireless solution using Ultra-Wideband (UWB).

This new solution, which combines Icron's ExtremeUSB with Freescale's UWB chipset, is designed to allow manufacturers of PCs, peripheral and consumer electronics applications to wirelessly enable their USB products.

Unlike other efforts to create an entirely new USB standard to incorporate UWB technology, Freescale and Icron's planned USB-over-UWB wireless solution is USB 2.0-compatible and designed to support existing USB 1.1 and USB 2.0 devices in the market today. This gives users a "plug and play" experience right out of the box.

"The vast installed base of USB 1.1- and USB 2.0-enabled devices worldwide offers many opportunities to provide a wireless solution," said Brian O'Rourke, senior analyst at In-Stat. "According to a recent USB research report by In-Stat, there were 706 million USB-enabled devices in the market in 2004 and that number is forecast to increase to 2.1 billion in 2009."

OEMs can expect to integrate the Freescale UWB solution featuring USB into small modules the size of typical USB flash drives, which can be plugged into any USB port. For example, a consumer could replace the cable between a laptop and USB printer by simply plugging the module into the USB port on each device, effectively eliminating the cable connection and replacing it with a high-speed wireless solution capable of transmitting up to 20 m (65 ft.).

"Icron's ExtremeUSB technology allows us to leverage the large, installed base of USB applications that desire the high data rate, low power consumption performance of UWB," said Martin Rofheart, director of Ultra-Wideband operations at Freescale. "With a relatively new technology such as UWB, our OEM customers are looking for a proven connection to existing standards—not layering a new technology onto a newly developed specification."

"We identified Freescale's chipset as an ideal UWB platform for the implementation of our ExtremeUSB technology due to its performance and availability," commented Robert Eisses, vice president of sales and marketing at Icron. "The market wants a simple USB 2.0 wire replacement solution, and this solution is the quickest and easiest way to make that happen, while still supporting the existing USB standards."

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