1394 Trade Association Approves New Wireless Protocol Adaptation Layer; ''Wireless FireWire'' Product Development Set to Move Forward.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

DALLAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 10, 2004

Also Sets Liaison to Collaborate on Future

"Wireless FireWire" Specifications

The 1394 Trade Association today approved the new Protocol Adaptation Layer (PAL) for IEEE 1394 over IEEE 802.15.3, which enables new "Wireless FireWire" product development that will let consumers easily connect wireless electronics components to each other and to the wired home entertainment network.

The Trade Association's Board of Directors approved the PAL specification developed by its Wireless Working Group, chaired by Peter Johansson. The PAL is designed as a standard convergence layer between the 802.15.3 MAC and applications developed for wired 1394. It builds upon the 1394 infrastructure -- for example, data formats, connection management schemes and time synchronization procedures -- and takes advantage of the excellent quality of service (QoS) available in 802.15.3.

Adaptation of the 1394 infrastructure to 802.15.3 makes possible the reuse of existing middleware for audio and video streaming and other multimedia applications.

"'Wireless FireWire' is ready for product development," said James Snider, executive director of the 1394 Trade Association. "Our Wireless Working Group did an excellent job translating the 1394 infrastructure to the wireless environment. It's an important new specification developed by a dedicated group that finished its work well ahead of schedule."

Use of the IEEE 802.15.3 MAC and Wireless 1394 standards enables immediate product development. Product engineers familiar with FireWire already have the expertise required to collaborate with RF engineers in designing the next generation of wireless equipment such as set top boxes, HDTVs, tuners and DVD players. All of these wireless products will be able to interoperate. Also, the wireless PAL supports IEEE P1394.1 bridges, so new wireless devices will connect to and work with existing FireWire products. Wireless P1394.1 bridges incorporate a wired 1394 node and a wireless 802.15.3 node and route both "best effort" and streaming multimedia data between the two.

Because the PAL and MAC together can work with any suitable radio technology, products can be implemented with an appropriate wireless physical layer -- including ultra-wideband (UWB) -- whether standardized or not.

User Friendly

The wireless 1394 PAL was designed specifically to keep users in control of their own experience. For example, the bandwidth reservation policy is "first come, first served," which is easily understood by users.

"Concerning bandwidth allocation, the specification is deterministic," said Johansson. "As with 1394, the PAL does not attempt to assign bandwidth priorities to one product or task over another; hidden policies do not preempt user choice in cases of bandwidth limitation. It is very efficient and very fair, and takes advantage of the technical sophistication of the 802.15.3 MAC."

In a separate action, the 1394 Trade Association established a liaison with the WiMedia Alliance under which companies and technology leaders from both groups will cooperate in future wireless multimedia specifications development.

"The 1394 Trade Association will work with the WiMedia Alliance to enable collaboration among members of both organizations as future wireless multimedia standards are designed and as products are eventually brought to the market. Each group provides world class expertise and technical leadership, which will ensure the development of robust, reliable, consumer electronics and mobile devices for many applications," said Snider. "Consumers will benefit as we bring together the convenience of wireless technology with the high speed and high-quality real-time performance of FireWire at 400 Megabits/second speeds."

About the 1394 Wireless Working Group

The Wireless Working Group was formed in 2001 under the original leadership of Steve Bard of Intel Corporation. Along with Peter Johansson, key members of the group include Bob Heile, CTO of Appairent, Inc. and Allen Heberling of Xtreme Spectrum, who chaired the PAL task group.

About the 1394 Trade Association

The 1394 Trade Association is a worldwide organization dedicated to the enhancement and proliferation of the IEEE 1394 multimedia standard. The Trade Association supports a wide range of active working groups, along with a comprehensive compliance and interoperability program. For more information please visit www.1394ta.org.