Monday, October 31, 2011

Alereon Claims Advances in UWB Technology

Austin-based Alereon, the developer of ultra wideband (UWB) communications semiconductors headed by Eric Broockman, is claiming it has reached a breakthrough with its technology, allowing its technology to be used for TCP/IP, new pricing, lower power, and better performance on its family of chips. Among the advances, the firm said it now supports TCP/IP over UWB, providing an alternative to the original wireless USB protocol developed by the USB Industry Forum. Alteron said the new support is aimed at customers wanting to avoid congestion, interference and throughput issues that Wi-Fi and Bluetooth suffer, due to their use of 2.4 and 5Ghz spectrum. The firm also announced a new, low power and lower cost chip, plus a higher speed UWB chip supporting up to 1Gbps PHY rates. Alereon is venture backed by Austin Ventures, Centennial Ventures, Duchossois Technology Ventures, eCentury Capital Partners, Genesis Campus, Kinetic Ventures, Pharos Capital Partners, PTV Sciences, Samsung, and SK Telecom.