Wi-Fi devices will soon to talk to each other without needing a router
Fairly soon, all Wi-Fi devices will be able to talk to one another no matter if they are near a router or not.
Wi-Fi is a great medium for allowing electronic devices to talk to one another when they share a network, but what if you were able to make two devices communicate with one another no matter where you were?
The Wi-Fi Alliance, the organization behind setting all standards for Wi-Fi communication, announced today that a major update will be coming to the ubiquitous networking solution in the middle of 2010. Named Wi-Fi Direct, the new protocol will allow Wi-Fi enabled devices to communicate with one another directly, foregoing the need to connect through a traditional network or hotspot. An Internet connection of some sort will still be needed to access the Web, but the possibility of a modem with Wi-Fi built-in seems quite possible at this point so you would be able to totally bypass having a router at home.
The idea behind the new standard is to allow people to share data and play games between devices no matter where they might be. Say you are out on a construction sight and need to transfer blueprints between laptops, this would now be possible by connecting the two devices via Wi-Fi Direct. This would also allow a visiting salesman in a client’s office to connect to the printer and use it without having to be connected to the office network.
One of the most interesting applications for the home will be the ability to stream media directly from a computer to a Wi-Fi enable television. No more complicated media streamers or finding the correct cable to hook your laptop to your TV any more. Just establish a connection and start streaming your home movies and whatnot directly to the set.
The new standard will be added to older devices via software updates, and new devices will have it right out of the box sometime after mid-2010.
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October 16th, 2009
Excellent, this is what I’ve been waiting for for a long time, mainly for transferring files via mobile phones.
Bluetooth is sooo cripplingly slow, it’s almost as outdated as the infra-red it replaced.