New Wireless USB Products Expand Marketplace Offerings

The Lenovo ThinkPad X300 and NEC LaVie J notebook PCs Bring Wireless USB Functionality to New Markets
IDF Shanghai 2008

INTEL DEVELOPER FORUM: The USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF) announces the expanded availability of Wireless USB with the latest additions to a growing Wireless USB product environment, the Lenovo ThinkPad X300 and NEC LaVie J notebook PCs. These notebooks achieved certification from the USB-IF and join an increasing lineup of Wireless USB equipped notebooks, legacy adapters and component silicon, which serve as a foundation that will support next generation Wireless USB peripherals.

“Today’s consumers require a personal computing experience that supports the varying facets of their lives,” said Jeff Ravencraft, USB-IF President. “The inclusion of Wireless USB in a variety of notebooks from top-tier manufacturers Dell, Lenovo and NEC, is a signal to the industry that consumers are ready for a wireless solution that is easy to use and enhances the mobile computing experience.”

The expanding portfolio of Wireless USB enabled notebooks and growing hub and adapter support, can be attributed to the widespread availability of certified Wireless USB silicon solutions from a variety of manufacturers. The recently announced CMOS single-chip solutions from Intel and Wisair join a lineup of silicon building blocks, facilitating the easier integration of Wireless USB in devices. Wireless USB momentum continues to build with products shipping in the United States, Japan and the European Union.

“Notebook PC technology is continually becoming more wireless, making connecting to the Internet, printers and other peripherals fast and easy without the clutter and hassle of cables and cords,” said Tom Ribble, director of ThinkPad product marketing, Lenovo. “To help give our customers the best user experience, we’ve integrated a number of leading wireless technologies into our new ThinkPad X300 notebook, including Wireless USB, GPS and WWAN, as well as making the notebook ready for WiMAX when it becomes available.”

“NEC has been a long time promoter of Wireless USB technology, and we are pleased to lead the industry with the first native Wireless USB host solution – shipping in our LaVie J notebook,” stated Mr. Toshihiro Watanabe, General Manager, NEC Personal Products Ltd. “Wireless USB is the next step in wireless technology and the inclusion of Wireless USB in notebooks is the first step towards building a rich host environment for future Wireless USB products.”

Advancing Wireless USB device support, companies including Belkin, D-Link and IOGEAR provide Wireless USB adapters and hubs, bringing Wireless USB connectivity to legacy devices. Consumers can easily add Wireless USB to their existing PCs and peripherals – giving legacy products the ability to connect with other certified Wireless USB products.

About Wireless USB

Wireless USB is the first high-speed wireless personal interconnect technology combining the speed and security of wired High-Speed USB with the ease-of-use of wireless technology. It is backward compatible with wired USB, allows users to connect up to 127 devices and currently delivers a bandwidth of up to 480Mb/s at 3 meters and 110Mb/s at 10 meters. Wireless USB is based on the WiMedia Alliance Ultra-wideband Common Radio Platform.

The Wireless USB Promoter Group, consisting of seven companies – HP, Intel Corporation, LSI Logic, Microsoft Corporation, NEC Corporation, NXP Semiconductors and Samsung Electronics – defined the core Wireless USB specification with the support of more than 100 contributor members. The group has now transitioned the specification’s management to the USB-IF, the supporting governing body of USB specifications. If a company intends to build and ship a product based on the Wireless USB 1.0 specification and wants to obtain a license, it should execute a WUSB 1.0 adopter’s agreement. Download the adopter agreement at: http://www.usb.org/wusb/.

The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.
Contacts

Nereus for USB-IF
Kim Myers, +1-971-563-5677
kmyers {at} nereus-worldwide(.)com