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Allen firm helping TV go wireless: New technology transmits video signals without cables
(Dallas Morning News, The (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Dec. 11--A small Allen firm plans to unveil a technology today that could get rid of the wires connecting TVs and other devices, such as cable boxes, game consoles and DVD players.
Chipmaker WiQuest Communications Inc. plans to sell its wireless technology first to computer makers, who could use it to transmit video signals from the computer to a monitor. The technology is called WiDV, short for "wireless digital video."
Getting rid of video cables would help eliminate the mess of tangled wires behind the typical home entertainment center or computer desk. Wireless video connections could one day be useful for other purposes, too. Video recorded on a cellphone, for instance, could be wirelessly transmitted to the TV.
WiQuest isn't the only company in the wireless video market. A California company, Tzero Technologies Inc., and a consortium of electronics makers known as WirelessHD are working on competing technologies. WiQuest will have a decent chance against those rivals, said Brian O'Rourke, an analyst at research firm In-Stat.
WiDV will probably be one of the first such technologies available in mainstream products, he said. And it will ride atop another wireless technology, called Ultra-Wideband, that computer makers are eager to adopt.
To understand WiDV, it's important to understand Ultra-Wideband, or UWB. It's a type of wireless transmission that has been in development for several years, and it is expected to become widely available next year.
For UWB, "2007 will be like the 1999 of the Wi-Fi market," said Matthew Shoemake, WiQuest's chief executive.
UWB can transmit a lot of data, but only over short distances, so it works best for devices that are in the same room together.
A large group of technology companies have agreed to use UWB as a way to replace the cables that connect computers to many other devices, such as printers or external hard drives. Those wires are known as USB cables, so the method used to replace them is called Wireless USB.
Most major technology firms, including Intel Corp., Texas Instruments Inc. and Microsoft Corp., have agreed to use the Wireless USB protocol so their UWB products will work with each other.
WiQuest also makes UWB chips using the Wireless USB protocol. But now, the company can offer something extra. WiQuest's new UWB chips will work with Wireless USB, but they'll also contain WiDV technology.
That means computer makers that already use WiQuest's chips can add WiDV to their products without changing their design.
"It's a good way to offer an economical solution for video transmission," said Mr. O'Rourke, the analyst.
Computers with WiDV could be available in the first half of next year, Mr. Shoemake said. Once that happens, computer monitor manufacturers and other gadget companies would presumably make their own WiDV products.
The last time Mr. Shoemake worked for a start-up wireless technology company, the payoff was big. In 2000, TI bought Alantro Communications Inc., which specialized in Wi-Fi technology, for $300 million in stock. Mr. Shoemake, an employee with Alantro, joined TI in the deal and stayed with the Dallas-based chipmaker until he founded WiQuest in 2003.
WiQuest is open to discussions with suitors, but Mr. Shoemake said he isn't actively pursuing a buyer.
"Those things tend to naturally take care of themselves," he said.
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