Vision - January/February 2009 - (Page 33) ltra-wideband technology, hampered by regulatory hurdles and some false starts is starting to gain some traction. As UWB chipset prices fall and find more allure among mobile phone and handheld electronics manufacturers, analysts expect the low-power, high-bandwidth wireless technology to gain in popularity and UWB-enabled products to begin to hit volume shipments in a year or two. Industry developments in recent months haven’t helped UWB’s market standing, however. In the space of one week last fall, two shifts away from UWB raised questions about the technology’s future. First, Wiquest, a five-year-old UWB chipmaker that was unable to raise money or interest from potential buyers, shut its doors. Then chip giant Intel said it was ending its UWB R&D program, www.ce.org U leaving open the option to outsource its UWB needs instead. Before those apparent UWB market setbacks, ABI Research analyst Doug McEuen had forecast that shipments of UWB-enabled electronics would jump to 407 million units in 2013, up from just over 18 million this year. While saying he would lower his estimates, McEuen is sticking to his forecast that UWB volumes will begin to take off in 2010. Says McEuen, “It’s not a technology that’s just going to go away just because of some consolidation.” Instead, the Intel shift and Wiquest’s closing in particular signals what McEuen expects will be an industry shakeout this year coupled with buying opportunities for companies with firmer financial legs that are looking to enter the market. Those scenarios are being hastened by the global financial downturn. Around the same time that Intel pulled back from UWB and Wiquest closed its doors, the fabless UWB chipmaker Alereon, for example, expanded its software capabilities by taking one of those shopping opportunities. It acquired assets and a development team of Stonestreet One, a Kentucky-based developer of wireless USB technology. Alereon wasn’t letting its acquisition alone serve as an expression of confidence in the UWB market. Eric Broockman, Alereon’s chief executive, took to his blog to observe that Wiquest’s shuttering mirrored shakeouts among other technology developments and was not necessarily a death knell for UWB. And companies first to market aren’t always the most successful, Broockman added. In the development of the 10/100 Ethernet standard, for example, he noted that Broadcom lagged other chipmakers but grew into a “powerhouse” in the market. January/February 2009 33
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