Ultrawideband getting its act together?

We've been hearing less than savory things about the ways Ultrawideband's been shaping up as of late, but it certainly can't hurt that two big UWB advocacy groups, the WiMedia Alliance (WMA) and Multiband OFDM Alliance (MBOA) are teaming up to attempt what the IEEE couldn't: ratify a freaking standard for the technology. (This is really starting to sound like the whole WiMax situation—no wonder people are confusing the two.) Their goal? Get UWB out the door fast and early enough that the IEEE will have to accept WMA/MBOA's de facto standard as the one true Ultrawideband. Wishful thinking on their part? Perhaps—didn't really work for all those pre-802.11n vendors, but if it's going to get a viable, usable wireless FireWire and USB (and no, we're not talking about Bluetooth, here) out the door then we can't really complain. Unless the standard splits, and we all get caught with a bunch of incompatible hardware.