Ultrawideband Beginning To Take Off

The market for Ultrawideband (UWB) silicon is finally beginning to take off in 2007, reports In-Stat. Though regulatory hurdles over UWB still persist worldwide, the first UWB-enabled notebook PCs have shipped this year from Dell, Lenovo, and Toshiba, the high-tech market research firm says.

The primary question for UWB now is: Will other product segments follow where PCs lead? UWB is a very flexible technology in that it supports multiple standards, including WUSB, Bluetooth 3.0, IP over UWB, and Video over UWB. This should enable the technology to gain design wins in a wide range of product segments, including PC peripherals, Consumer Electronics (CE), and mobile phones.

Recent research by In-Stat found the following:

• UWB-enabled notebook PCs hit the market in mid-2007. PC peripherals will follow in 2008.
• CE and communications applications with UWB won’t hit the market in volume until 2010.
• In 2011, over 400 million UWB-enabled devices will ship.

The research, “Ultrawideband 2007: PCs Finally Hit The Global Market” (#IN0703753MI), covers the worldwide market for Ultrawideband. It contains analysis and annual shipment forecasts through 2011 for the penetration of UWB into 26 separate applications within the following product segments: PC, PC peripheral, CE, Communications, and Industrial/Medical. The forecast for UWB into each application is broken down by WiMedia UWB and proprietary UWB penetration. Profiles of leading UWB chip vendors and IP suppliers are included. In addition to the report, Brian and other In-Stat analysts provide consulting services on a variety of technical and market topics regarding the semiconductor and electronics industries.