Now devices will talk through Wi-Fi: Courtesy Wi-Fi Direct
By siliconindia   |   Tuesday, 26 October 2010, 07:52 IST
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New Delhi: Going beyond the sole requirement of connecting to the internet, Wi-Fi will be used for device to device communication soon. The Wi-Fi Alliance, a consortium of firms making Wi-Fi products, has unveiled a new technology called 'Wi-Fi Direct' that will allow the use Wi-Fi for device to device communication without any WiFi network or access point. The new technology will allow peer-to-peer Wi-Fi connections between devices like smartphones and cameras, meaning a camera with Wi-Fi Direct installed in it can connect to any digital device via Wi-Fi and upload pictures over the same range of existing Wi-Fi of about 200 yards at speeds of up to 250 megabyte per second, said Edgar Figueroa, CEO, Wi-Fi Alliance. Wi-Fi Alliance has announced five products that have been certified as Wi-Fi Direct-ready - an Atheros PCI mini card, an Intel Centrino internal PCI half mini card, a reference design from Ralink, a Realtek PCI mini card and a product identified only as a Broadcom BCM43224 module. According to Figueroa, the Wi-Fi Direct software needs to be installed in only one device in a pair of devices, and the peer-to-peer sharing would be started with the press of a button or input of a personal identification number (PIN). Wi-Fi Direct will be embedded in phones, cameras, TVs, MP3 players, Figuero added. There are about 82 million Wi-Fi enabled portable electronics devices and with 216 million Wi-Fi enabled handsets to be shipped this year, the consumers are likely to use Wi-Fi Direct soon.

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