The Importance of a Standards-based Approach

You’ve heard the arguments before. Standards-based approaches are good for markets because they enable multi-vendor sourcing and reduce costs, ensure compatibility and interoperability. But in wireless communications and particularly in the emerging UWB market it’s even more critical to be standards based.

Imagine as a consumer bringing home a new non-standard UWB product. Set it up and it seems to work fine. Then go to your new Wireless USB printer. It worked well before but now it doesn’t. The non-standard product is interfering. Put on your Bluetooth headset and try to call tech support. It no longer works either. Which product do you return? If you’re like many consumers, you return them all.

Imagine being the retailer having to take all those products back. You can’t even begin to diagnose the problem. Every year, retailers receive more than $15 billion in returns because of problems like this. With nearly 300 companies soon to ship WiMedia standards-compliant products – and another 7,000 companies adopting this standard for next-generation Bluetooth devices – you can understand the magnitude of the problem that could be created by even one non-standard product.

Non-standard communications by devices result in interference and chaos, and greatly reduce the likelihood of widespread adoption. We urge all companies involved in the UWB market to take a standards-based approach, and participate in WiMedia compatibility and interoperability tests.