NEC produces Wireless USB host controller, on the hunt for end products

Oh sure, Wireless USB products are out there, but they're pretty far out there. We're talking deep back shelf type stuff. NEC Electronics is hoping to get the cord-free version of the well known peripheral standard into more and more gizmos by cranking out the uPD720171 Wireless USB host controller. The unit was designed with the PCI Express bus interface in mind, and it can also provide laptops with connectivity via the ExpressCard slot. The company claims that the $10 device can handle transfers up to 480Mbps within a range of three meters, but you'll be waiting a little while yet before testing out said claim in a finalized product.

[Via SlashGear]

[Jon @ Aug 20th 2008 2:13AM]

I can't wait to see manufactures take advantage of this.

[Mustaine @ Aug 20th 2008 5:27AM]

Wireless external drives, eh? so instead of a USB cable we need batteries or a power cord.
I don't really see the usefulness. At home there will always be permanent cables, what's a few more? On the road, there's the aforementioned external drive, maybe a projector for presentations..not a big deal.
Call me old fashioned, but I trust cables. I see this as opening the door for more packet sniffing.

[PSU_Boss @ Aug 20th 2008 8:59AM]

I don't know about wireless external drives.. what happens when you're writing to the drive and it goes out of range and corrupts the data?