Big Players to Collaborate on New Wi-Fi Standard

This week, a group of 27 companies have announced plans to collaborate on a new, faster Wi-Fi system. With the name Enhanced Wireless Consortium, the group has amongst its members Broadcom, Intel, Cisco, Lenovo, Toshiba and Sony - companies whose interests cover a wide range of different technological products.

It’s good news for consumers as it means we are more likely to end up with a single, optimised system in the future. Up until now, the companies were working on several new, incompatible standards.

The standard is called 802.11n and though it will not be officially ratified as the official system until late next year, the agreement means that the companies can get working on products using it straight away, and ready for launch before that date. This new Wi-Fi is said to be between two and ten times faster than versions currently available and will also have a superior range. And this new ‘n-standard’ is still compatible with devices using older Wi-Fi technology.

As well as improving laptop computers and wireless routers, the boffins envisage it will also be used to connect devices that would normally need to use wires, such as TVs and video recorders. But its applications for improving games don’t take much imagination, and will further fuel the wireless revolution started by machines like the PSP and DS. Given Sony Corps’ involvement, we can’t help speculating about it being used in the PS3 controllers either.