Wireless USB Standard Dies

[malware]

WiQuest Communications Inc. today went bankrupt, and thus unofficially announced that the work on the Wireless USB standard will stop permanently. The Allen, Texas, company employed about 120 people focused on the wireless USB protocol. WiQuest was shipping a two-chip wireless USB solution adopted as an optional add-on to notebooks from Dell, Lenovo and Toshiba as well as consumer devices such as hubs from Belkin, D-Link and others. According to the source of this story, WiQuest couldn't resolve the technical difficulties in bringing the wireless technology to the market. The whole wireless USB solution requires two chips instead of a single one to work, also the first generation wireless USB devices offered very limited transfer speeds. Another problem that was present during all the time were the power requirements set by the OEM adopters. After the little success of the first generation wireless USB standard, WiQuest was sampling a single chip device announced back in August, but this one won't make it to production now.

We've been looking for a variety of alternatives for awhile now including new investors and acquisitions, but none looked like positive alternatives to our investors so we decided to shut the doors today,

said Todd A. Brown, vice president of worldwide sales at the company.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[lemonadesoda]

Sorry to see them fail, but while wireless USB is a neat solution to solving cable issues, there is a competing product (blutooth) that we all hate and is plagued by security issues with hot-plug-and-play, and there is a BETTER product, which is to "connect" devices to a network, whether LAN or internet. Wireless ethernet is a better solution. It just means a BIGGER investment for the consumer (ie wireless AP), and a bigger investment for the product manufacturer (ie network accessable protocol). Nonetheless, network connectivity is the way to go. WHO wants a wireless USB printer attached to ONE DEVICE and not available to anyone else? To then use print sharing is just plain silly, requiring both computers on at the same time. And as offices are moving to hot desks, thin and think clients, and cloud computing, we need all devices connect to the LAN/server. Wireless USB doesnt do that and would give you nowhere to connect to!

So, sorry to see you go, but, IMO, you never had a product.

 

[Deleted member 3]

Sorry to see them fail, but while wireless USB is a neat solution to solving cable issues, there is a competing product (blutooth) that we all hate and is plagued by security issues with hot-plug-and-play, and there is a BETTER product, which is to "connect" devices to a network, whether LAN or internet. Wireless ethernet is a better solution. It just means a BIGGER investment for the consumer (ie wireless AP), and a bigger investment for the product manufacturer (ie network accessable protocol). Nonetheless, network connectivity is the way to go. WHO wants a wireless USB printer attached to ONE DEVICE and not available to anyone else? To then use print sharing is just plain silly, requiring both computers on at the same time. And as offices are moving to hot desks and cloud computing, we need all devices going to a server. Wireless USB doesnt do that.

So, sorry to see you go, but, IMO, you never had a product.

Indeed, wifi mouse, wifi keyboard, wifi coffee warmer, wifi minifan. Not all devices would fit in a network. Though agree many will, ie harddrives, printers, etc.
Your link to companies doesn't work though, wifi in't exactly the greatest thing for an office. Performance is crap, it's unreliable, not secure, etc. Of course, if the technology improves to be on par with wired networks on those points, which no doubt happens eventually, it's a great thing.

 

[Deleted member 24505]

Much better to have a printer with built in wi-fi.

 

[lemonadesoda]

Indeed, wifi mouse, wifi keyboard, wifi coffee warmer, wifi minifan.

LOL.

Corporate wifi is fine for printers, PDAs, phones, etc. I do agree it is hopeless for data and internet networking. And security is an issue, agreed.

But really, what applications were there (sensible ones) for wireless USB that arent already covered by blutooth or arent better covered by wifi?

 

[WarEagleAU]

I was thinking their main emphasis was more elimination of wires. Speakers, Mice, Keyboard, etc...

 

[KBD]

i have a Netgear wireless USB adaptor for one of the pcs that has no access to a wired connection and i find this little thing very useful, saved me the time of running a wire across half the house. Sorry to see them go.

 

[Atnevon]

Bluetooth???

 

[lemonadesoda]

i have a Netgear wireless USB adaptor for one of the pcs that has no access to a wired connection and i find this little thing very useful, saved me the time of running a wire across half the house. Sorry to see them go.

A USB adapter with wifi is DIFFERENT from wireless USB. What you have is a wireless ethernet adapter as a USB dongle thingie, not "wireless USB"! Confusing, I know.

What these guys were doing was replacing the USB wire to your mouse, speakers, or keyboard by going "wireless USB". The only problem is that these devices need POWER. LOL. So you still need a cable.

 

[KBD]

A USB adapter with wifi is DIFFERENT from wireless USB. What you have is a wireless ethernet adapter as a USB dongle thingie, not "wireless USB"! Confusing, I know.

What these guys were doing was replacing the USB wire to your mouse, speakers, or keyboard by going "wireless USB". The only problem is that these devices need POWER. LOL. So you still need a cable.

ahhh, thnx!