The WiMedia Alliance and the MultiBand OFDM Alliance Special Interest Group (MBOA-SIG) have merged into a single organization. Operating as the WiMedia Alliance, the combined organization continues to drive the standardization and adoption of ultra wideband (UWB) for high-speed wireless, multimedia-capable personal area connectivity.
The WiMedia-MBOA said it is conducting an intellectual property review of the MBOA-SIG's physical (PHY) layer specification, which has already been distributed to MBOA-SIG members who are building products. The organization is also finalizing the MBOA-SIG's medium access control (MAC) layer specification. Applications such as Wireless USB, Wireless 1394 and wireless IP will use the WiMedia-MBOA's common radio platform based on the MBOA-SIG's PHY and MAC specifications.
Concurrent efforts include developing application profiles for UPnP/IP technologies as well as completing specifications such as the WiMedia convergence architecture (WiMCA) and the WiMedia network protocol adaptation (WiNet) layer. Lastly, the WiMedia-MBOA has begun defining its certification and interoperability program: testing suites will address WiMedia-MBOA specification usage in Wireless USB and Wireless 1394 applications in addition to the total wireless IP UWB technology stack.
The WiMedia Alliance also announced its newly elected officers:
- President: Stephen R. Wood, Intel
- Vice President: Kursat Kimyacioglu, Philips
- Vice President: Jon Rosdahl, Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
- Secretary: Roberto Aiello, Staccato Communications
- Treasurer: Mark Fidler, HP
