Alereon releases wireless USB

Alereon has released a wireless USB chip which it claims uses a frequency band that is legal all over the world.The few wireless USB products on the market send and receive signals over a frequency that isn't legal in most of the world because of potential interference with radar. The chip uses ultra-wideband, or UWB, which runs on frequencies far above those usually employed for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, cellular phones and other wireless technologies. The downside of of the technology is that it can only go about 20 metres but it can reach speeds of up to 480 megabits per second, equivalent to USB 2.0 cables, at distances up to three meters.