Future Focus

Another wireless challenge is in the home. Although households, especially in the U.S. and Asia, are increasingly popular places for wireless networks, wi-fi has difficulty handling large video files. That's because its speed is not always fast enough to transport movies without glitches; you may have noticed the problem when trying to beam Bridget Jones's Diary from the computer in your living room to your TV in the corner. Several companies are working to develop another wireless technology called UWB (ultra wide band) that provides 10 times the bandwidth of wi-fi. Although UWB signals don't travel as far as wi-fi, they travel far enough to beam Bridget. One of the leaders in this potentially lucrative field is Tel Aviv-based Wisair. The company's founder and chief executive David Yaish touts a variety of applications for his chips; a phone outfitted with UWB could download songs and videos from the same living-room server. Digital and video cameras outfitted with UWB could transfer their contents to home PCs, sans wire. Not only does UWB handle larger files faster than wi-fi, but it consumes much less power, says Yaish. Result: longer battery life on a UWB device than on a wi-fi gadget.

Like many consumer technologies, UWB started out as military technology, used for communications that avoided eavesdroppers by spreading over a very wide range of frequencies. Yaish, 39, became familiar with it when he served in the Israeli army in the early '90s as a wireless specialist. Today, he and other UWB proponents are honing a standard they hope will assure that all UWB devices communicate in the same way. Wisair is part of a large contingent backing one proposed standard, while Freescale, the chip company carved out of Motorola, backs another. The existence of competing standards means that market forecasts vary. Gartner analyst Stan Bruederle says the UWB market will hit a modest $400 million in 2008; San Diego research firm ON World predicts a $1 billion market by then. Yaish subscribes to the more bullish estimate. "UWB technology signals a new era for communication between electronic devices,'' he says. "Millions of people will enjoy the freedom of anytime, anywhere fast wireless connectivity between all consumer electronic devices in their homes and offices. This is the new reality." Of course, the biggest test for all the Pioneers is: Will people actually use their technology? There are, for instance, at least half a dozen technologies vying to become the next-gen wi-fi, and only one will win. Take it from Cooper, the grand old man of ArrayComm, who says, "everything takes longer than you think, because people take time to change.'' But then, he notes, people balked at the PC and the cell phone, too.