Tech news

WiMedia unveils strategic directions
It was promised it would change the wireless world. However, it has fallen short of its expectations. Device drivers are now fingered as the cause of disappointing data rates compared to the 480 Mbits/s PHY once touted by the Alliance. Let's see what comes out...

Integration key to 802.11n
Still in the wireless arena, the latest wireless LAN (WLAN) specification, 802.11n, poses several technical challenges. Serving multiple frequency bandwidths (2.4 GHz and/or 5 GHz) with multiple antennas, the devices used in 802.11n WLAN must be optimized for output power as well as size. In a crowded wireless world, things are getting a lot more crowded by the day.

Upgrades for PCI Express in the works
The PCI Special Interest Group is making progress on a list of feature extensions to its latest 2.0 specification. The changes are expected to enhance system performance as well as provide a smooth a path for accelerators and storage devices, all of which should be available by June 2008. Let's hope this paves the way for true SSD high-performance storage as well.

AT&T lights up 40-Gbps network
The network connects major U.S. cities and includes 18,000 miles of optical ultra-long- haul routes. Let's see if this will be a free "autobahn" or if it will be a censored version of the internet where packet filtering is the norm.