14 DAY TRIAL // These days, Intel is making the headlines with the release of its energy-efficient Atom processor, but there is more to say about this company than just that, as it is planning to change the way users wirelessly connect their devices. To be more exact, Intel is set to release a new technology that will directly challenge the current Bluetooth technology. Apparently, this new product is better than the Bluetooth and is capable of working at a similar nine-meter range.
The technology Intel plans to introduce has been developed by Ozmo Devices and is dubbed Wi-Fi PAN. According to Ozmo, by using Wi-Fi PAN, users will be capable of connecting peripherals such as wireless headsets, keyboards and mice, to laptops and mobile phones. This will remove the Bluetooth as a wireless connectivity standard, because the devices will not need to feature separate Bluetooth antennas anymore.
According to the company that developed the new wireless standard, Wi-Fi PAN can operate at the same nine-meter range that Bluetooth is currently offering. But, unlike this one, the Wi-Fi PAN will provide a higher transfer rate, of 9MB/s. Apparently, we will begin seeing Wi-Fi PAN-enabled devices sometime next year but, until that happens, wireless Bluetooth 2.0 connectivity is all what we are going to see of today's wireless headsets, keyboards and mice.
Today's current Bluetooth 2.0 standard has been around since early 2005, and has been designed to offer backward compatibility with the Bluetooth 1.1 standard. With EDR (Enhanced Data Rate), Bluetooth 2.0-enabled devices are capable of achieving a transfer speed of 3.0 Mbit/s, which is three times slower than what Ozmo Devices claims the Wi-Fi PAN standard can reach.
Until now, no official statement has been made regarding the manufacturing costs of Wi-Fi PAN-enabled devices but, if Intel is really trying to replace the Bluetooth standard, then Wi-Fi must come with the same manufacturing cost, if not even with a better one.