Articles
An Introduction To Wibree
June 5, 2008
By Ezurio Ltd., A Unit Of Laird Technologies
The recent announcement of the Wibree standard by Nokia seems to have caught the industry unawares. The initial response of many analysts and much of the media has been to categorise it as yet another competitor in the 2.4 GHz space. A significant number have announced that it obviously just a "Bluetooth killer". Nothing could be further from the truth. One of the most important aspects of Wibree is that it envisages dual-mode chips that can support both Bluetooth and Wibree. This symbiotic existence is key to Wibree's market success. There will also be single-mode Wibree chips that offer low power operation, which will enable a wide range of devices to talk to these dual mode chips.
Every wireless standard faces a problem of achieving a critical mass of nodes if it is going to enable mass market applications. Wi-Fi managed this on the back of laptops, Bluetooth managed it on the back of mobile phones. So far none of the other prospective short range wireless technologies have found a platform that will give them critical mass within the market place. The design of Wibree is particularly cunning as it builds in a route to mass deployment. Because the bulk of Bluetooth chips shipped by Christmas 2008 will include Wibree dual-mode functionality, effectively for free, it means that by the end of 2009 there could be over 100 million Wibree enabled handsets in existence.
Click Here To Download:•White Paper: An Introduction To Wibree
