Until now, wifi connectivity has always been dependent on routers, base stations and other bridging hardware, that helped two wifi devices to connect to each other. However, now The Wifi Alliance has announced that by the year 2010, an all new wireless connectivity protocol will be in effect that will enable wifi enabled devices establish connection with each other to send and receive data. All those device running on the new protocol standard will be able to perform the sharing functions almost instantaneously.
This peer-to-peer to connectivity, dubbed Wifi Direct will be a great help to users who nowadays are switching over to wireless devices for the sake of convenience and efficient use. Wifi Direct will act as a smart wireless connection protocol, enabling devices such as, cell phones, keyboards, mouse, printers and other wireless enable hardware to connect to their corresponding mates and can also connect to each other in a group.
According to Edgar Figueroa (Executive Director, Wifi Direct), “Wi-Fi Direct represents a leap forward for our industry. Wi-Fi users worldwide will benefit from a single-technology solution to transfer content and share applications quickly and easily among devices, even when a Wi-Fi access point isn’t available. The impact is that Wi-Fi will become even more pervasive and useful for consumers and across the enterprise.”
The all new Wifi Direct protocol seems quite like the Bluetooth technology, where two bluetooth enabled devices directly connect to each other, without the need of any bridging hardware. The latest update to the bluetooth protocol, also known as Bluetooth 3.0, gives the users the freedom to switch from bluetooth to wifi, without breaking the active connection. This features greatly helps, when it comes to sharing or transferring of large amounts of data over the air. The Wifi Direct protocol will allow the devices to search and connect with other devices and the all new standard will be secure connection, as it is built upon the WPA2 security parameters.
Via Ars Technica.
