SAN RAMON, Calif.-The WiMedia Alliance announced it is working with Ecma International, a nonprofit association of technology developers, vendors and users, to establish a global ultra-wideband standard. The alliance said that with the help of Ecma, it aims to establish WiMedia’s multiband orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing ultra-wideband radio platform as the global UWB standard.
A competing group called the UWB Alliance supports a different, single-band approach to a UWB standard.
“We are very pleased to be working with Ecma, who make it possible to quickly complete the process of establishing a recognized international standard by the end of this year, which corresponds to UWB product launches,” said Stephen Wood, president of the WiMedia Alliance. “We’re extremely encouraged by the efficiency and maturity of the Ecma standard process, which balances quality with timeliness in standards drafting and publication.”
Ecma, known for its development of DVD interchange standards, scripting languages and other information, communications and consumer electronics technology standards, said a global UWB standard will give consumers the ability to choose wireless personal area network devices, regardless of brand or manufacturer, that store, transfer and play multimedia files and data at a data rate of 480 megabits per second.
“Ecma is committed to global interoperability of high-speed Wireless Personal Area Network technology, using our A-liaison with ISO/IEC JTC 1, following Ecma approval later this year,” said Jan van den Beld, secretary general of Ecma. “Toward that end, we carefully consider specifications and provide hands-on guidance with the industry’s UWB experts.”
