• New Wi-Fi Direct Standard Threatens Bluetooth

    New Wi-Fi Direct Standard Threatens Bluetooth

    Techtree News Staff, Oct 15, 2009 1524 hrs IST

    We will watch these two wireless technologies battle it out

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The Wi-Fi alliance has just introduced a new Wi-Fi specification called the Wi-Fi Direct. As the name suggests, Wi-Fi Direct will enable devices to communicate with other Wi-Fi Direct enabled devices directly - without the need of a wireless router or a hotspot.

Once it starts trickling into mainstream devices, it might encroach into what is dominated by Bluetooth. Short distance, high speed connectivity. The advantage with Wi-Fi Direct over Bluetooth will be the fact that it has a greater range and faster data transfer rates than Bluetooth. Wi-Fi Direct is also enterprise-ready, according to the Wi-Fi alliance, which boasts of over 300 other companies.

The Wi-Fi alliance plans to certify the technology by 2010 and might be a while until it comes to your laptops and mobile phones. Wi-Fi Direct will also come with WPA2 level security making it easier for enterprises to adopt the standard without being gravely concerned about the security factor. The best thing about Wi-Fi Direct is the fact that for existing devices to get Wi-Fi Direct-ed, all they will need is a firmware upgrade! That, however, is still unconfirmed so for the moment we will take this with a pinch of salt.

As to why Bluetooth is under threat, it's simply because if Wi-Fi Direct can offer the same usability at better speeds and greater range, why would someone want to hold on to older, slower technology? That, however, brings into fore Bluetooth 3.0, which too is set to debut in the near future. It would be interesting to see how these two newer wireless technologies battle it out for wireless supremacy!

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Discussion Board
(5) Comments
Scott
,Indianapolis, on Sep 15, 2010 09:05 PM
This is very exciting! Best Buy is already selling NetGear's Push2TV which allows you to sync your laptop to your TV via Wi-Fi Direct.
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Michael McClary
,Newark CA, on Oct 16, 2009 05:03 AM
But does it distribute network clock? If not, it misses one of the important features of bluetooth for phone headsets & audio.
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Karthik Kumar
,New Delhi, on Oct 15, 2009 08:43 PM
HAHA... Apps like Wipeer already allow this and creating Ah-hoc networks is a cinch in Vista/Windows7. Homegroups in Windows 7 does virtually the same thing.
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kickapuppy
,duluth, on Oct 15, 2009 10:36 PM
umm no... do some reading on how ad hoc wireless connections work and you will see this is nothing like an ad hoc network
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Sandeep
,Chennai, on Oct 15, 2009 09:49 PM
Isn't this exactly the same as ad-hoc connections in Wi-fi ? You can already do that for any comp so it's meaninglesss for computers. It would however be useful for cellphones. Simply requires a FW upgrade ? how simple it is depends on whether the cell phone companies are willing to spend in writing new firmware for their cellphones. About vs. Bluetooth well depends on battery power too. And as far as I know most of the devices wifi is available on are expensive ones whereas bluetooth is available even in cheaper low-end ones. So it may not really be that much of a threat to Bluetooth.
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