Wi-Fi To Become Direct Competitor of BlueTooth
By: John Vinson
The wireless capabilities that people enjoy with Bluetooth, might have a successor come next year with Wi-Fi Direct. This technology has been announced by the Wi-Fi Alliance. Wi-Fi Direct would allow for easier connection, and provide a means for Wi-Fi enabled to devices to connect to one another without a joining a hotspot network.
The program was known before as ‘Wi-Fi peer-to-peer’, and was changed due to the mouthful prior. The Wi-Fi Alliance has stated the devices with the new spec will have the ability to connect to “legacy devices” or devices currently using Wi-Fi. Wi-Fi Direct devices would be able to connect in a one-to-one setting, or have multiple devices connected at once.
Edgar Figueroa, Wi-Fi Alliance executive Director shares his thoughts on the technology, “Wi-Fi Direct represents a leap forward for our industry. Wi-Fi users worldwide will benefit from a single-technology solution to transfer content and share applications quickly and easily among devices, even when a Wi-Fi access point isn’t available.” He continues, “The impact is that Wi-Fi will become even more pervasive and useful for consumers and across the enterprise.”
For those who are familiar with Bluetooth, can see how this announcement will have an effect on the technology. In the current state of Bluetooth (2.0), the data rates are around 3/mbps. The range of Bluetooth devices are dependent on their power, and will max out at around 100 meters.
Wi-Fi on the other hand has a much larger data rate, and with the latest version (802.11n), can reach as high as 144/mbps. The range of current Wi-Fi devices far exceed Bluetooth as well. The indoor range of Wi-Fi reaches up to 300 feet, and 600 feet when outdoors. Wi-Fi Direct devices have been touted as supporting the same ranges and rates as current Wi-Fi certified devices.
The Wi-Fi Alliance is looking at 2010 for a starting point to certify devices with their new technology. As of now, there have been no announcements of any single device utilizing Wi-Fi Direct, but we can plan on seeing that change soon.