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While this is the first step in a "proof-of-concept" attempt, it doesn't make me sure that the high-bandwidth expected from wireless 1394 will be a reality.

Anyone else notice this, or am I mistaken in my reading of the article?

-inco

I have been following this for a year or so now so this is basically what I've discovered: the answer is that little has happened in terms of a marketable product with wireless IEEE 1394. Several companies besides NEC including Zayante and Philips Semiconductor have been researching this recently. In addition, the 1394 Trade Association (over 100 powerful companies like Intel, TI, NEC, Phillips) has announced the formation of a group to promote wireless interconnectivity between the IEEE1394 wired domains and wireless domains for computer and consumer electronics equipment. I think it is only a matter of time before some products appear. A quick search of Firewire World reveals the following up-to-date articles on wireless IEEE 1394:

• FireWireWorld - Zayante's Wireless 1394 Demo at IDF
• FireWireWorld - 1394 Trade Association Forms Wireless Working Group

I have been following this for a year or so now so this is basically what I've discovered: the answer is that little has happened in terms of a marketable product with wireless IEEE 1394. Several companies besides NEC including Zayante and Philips Semiconductor have been researching this recently. In addition, the 1394 Trade Association (over 100 powerful companies like Intel, TI, NEC, Phillips) has announced the formation of a group to promote wireless interconnectivity between the IEEE1394 wired domains and wireless domains for computer and consumer electronics equipment. I think it is only a matter of time before some products appear. A quick search of Firewire World reveals the following up-to-date articles on wireless IEEE 1394:

• FireWireWorld - Zayante's Wireless 1394 Demo at IDF
• FireWireWorld - 1394 Trade Association Forms Wireless Working Group

I have been following this for a year or so now so this is basically what I've discovered: the answer is that little has happened in terms of a marketable product with wireless IEEE 1394. Several companies besides NEC including Zayante and Philips Semiconductor have been researching this recently. In addition, the 1394 Trade Association (over 100 powerful companies like Intel, TI, NEC, Phillips) has announced the formation of a group to promote wireless interconnectivity between the IEEE1394 wired domains and wireless domains for computer and consumer electronics equipment. I think it is only a matter of time before some products appear. A quick search of Firewire World reveals the following up-to-date articles on wireless IEEE 1394:

• FireWireWorld - Zayante's Wireless 1394 Demo at IDF
• FireWireWorld - 1394 Trade Association Forms Wireless Working Group

This article is from Feb 2001.

For more on Wireless Firewire, search "wireless" from the group's homepage. Always moving forward, basically.

I'm envisioning a unified interface for connecting these various devices...There would also be a need for a standardized, extensible, secure set of protocols for these devices to interact.

Oh, you mean Sun Microsystem's Jini(tm), or how about Microsoft's Universal Plug and Play (tm)?

As for using something other than ethernet for connectivity for consumer electronics, isn't that what Firewire / IEEE1394 was supposed to deliver on? Or, if you're talking about using the existing phone wiring in the home, how about something like this thingee from D-Link?

Now... There are a few examples of tech we have right now , basically. So why aren't we using them more? Various reasons I don't feel like going into, but basically they're being slow to adopt.

Meanwhile, more and more homes are being outfitted with Cable Modem and DSL broadband equipment, which for the most part means ethernet. Which is making it a growing defacto standard for home networking. Many of the things that the hardcore geeks are tinkering with now (home hubs and routers) will be common commodity in a few short years.

So, while there might be something more appropriate for the home than ethernet... I'd rather see internet appliances now with an ethernet module, and maybe the option for a pluggable NewHomeAutomationBusFastNetThing in the future. As for TCP/IP, again there might be something better, but that's what's showing up as the transport of choice in broadband homes across the world.

So again, great blue sky vision. But we have cable modems, DSL, ethernet, and TCP/IP in the home now. Give us more appliances ready for this growing market. (I mean, I don't have to shut off the fridge when I want to use the microwave, why should I have to shut off the IPad when I want to use my Dreamcast online?!)

FireWireWorld.com has a nice analysis of the PC World article here.

Home FireWire/1394 Networking Takes Giant Leap Forward

Friday, March 31st, 2000 [3:00 PM]

PC World is reporting on a research project in Japan that has successfully transmitted 1394 data across 100 meters at 400 Mbps, the current limit to FireWire/1394 transmission speeds. This is significantly faster than was considered possible at those distances, and, more importantly, could lead to home networking. According to PC World:

A Japanese government research project headed by the Electronic Industries Association of Japan has succeeded in sending IEEE 1394 signals--an emerging standard for digital home networks--over a long distance at high speed.

The breakthrough confirms the system's suitability for use as a network around the home and opens up new possibilities for its use beyond the home, the EIAJ says in a statement.

IEEE 1394 interfaces are increasingly being built into home electronics equipment like video cameras, televisions, and PCs, sometimes under the FireWire or iLink [sic] brand names. But most incorporate electrical interfaces that can send the 400-megabits-per-second IEEE 1394 data stream over 4.5 meters through metallic cables only. While this is adequate for connecting a series of devices located close to one another, it is not sufficient for running a network around a typical house.

The Japanese trials, which were headed by Keio University's Yasuhiro Koike, succeeded in sending data at 400 mbps, which is fast enough for digital video, over a distance of 100 meters.

You can find more information in the PC World article, which we recommend.

The FireWireWorld Analysis: This is fantastic news. Home wiring is an important part of the future of FireWire/1394. Home entertainment as well as centralized control of appliances could easily adopt the FireWire/394 standard. This would have huge implications for all areas of FireWire/1394 use as economies of scale would brings more advances more quickly, across the board.

This is one of the most significant developments in FireWire/1394 so far this year.

FireWireWorld.com has a nice analysis of the PC World article here.

Home FireWire/1394 Networking Takes Giant Leap Forward

Friday, March 31st, 2000 [3:00 PM]

PC World is reporting on a research project in Japan that has successfully transmitted 1394 data across 100 meters at 400 Mbps, the current limit to FireWire/1394 transmission speeds. This is significantly faster than was considered possible at those distances, and, more importantly, could lead to home networking. According to PC World:

A Japanese government research project headed by the Electronic Industries Association of Japan has succeeded in sending IEEE 1394 signals--an emerging standard for digital home networks--over a long distance at high speed.

The breakthrough confirms the system's suitability for use as a network around the home and opens up new possibilities for its use beyond the home, the EIAJ says in a statement.

IEEE 1394 interfaces are increasingly being built into home electronics equipment like video cameras, televisions, and PCs, sometimes under the FireWire or iLink [sic] brand names. But most incorporate electrical interfaces that can send the 400-megabits-per-second IEEE 1394 data stream over 4.5 meters through metallic cables only. While this is adequate for connecting a series of devices located close to one another, it is not sufficient for running a network around a typical house.

The Japanese trials, which were headed by Keio University's Yasuhiro Koike, succeeded in sending data at 400 mbps, which is fast enough for digital video, over a distance of 100 meters.

You can find more information in the PC World article, which we recommend.

The FireWireWorld Analysis: This is fantastic news. Home wiring is an important part of the future of FireWire/1394. Home entertainment as well as centralized control of appliances could easily adopt the FireWire/394 standard. This would have huge implications for all areas of FireWire/1394 use as economies of scale would brings more advances more quickly, across the board.

This is one of the most significant developments in FireWire/1394 so far this year.

Firewire hasn't gotten the support it probably deserved on its technical merits. Apparently Apple, in its infinite wisdom (chuckle), tried to require licensing fees from every manufacturer and slowed its adoption. Then Intel dropped support for it in its 810, 820, 840 chipsets. But technically I think it's clearly superior to USB. I use firewire to talk to my Sony digital video camera and can count the problems I've had on one hand. I've tried to use USB, on the other hand, and finally gave up due to all the headaches to get it to work reliably (and this with just a couple simple devices like a mouse and keyboard).

Here is a quick USB - Firewire comparison:

FireWire has many advantages over other digital interfaces. It has already replaced SCSI on the new Apple iMacs G3s, and G4s, and FireWire is much more user-friendly for connecting devices than SCSI. Dell, Gateway, and Compaq have also released machines that rely on FireWire for attaching high-speed peripherals. Although USB is a great low-cost solution for connecting keyboards and other low-speed peripherals, it doesn't have the speed for multimedia uses. Maximum speed for USB is 12 megabits per second, compared to FireWire at 400 megabits per second. PCI is currently faster than FireWire, at 1 gigabit per second, but plans are already in the works for a FireWire that will be as fast and will of course have the ease of use and other advantages of the current FireWire. FireWire cables can be up to 15 feet long and they have either two 6-pin connectors, for data and power, or one 6-pin and one 4-pin connector for the data-only cables. Up to 63 devices can be connected to a FirePower network. Products currently using FireWire include video camcorders, digital cameras, digital video capturing and editing equipment, hard drives, DAT drives, CD drives, zip drives, ORB drives, MO (magneto optical) drives, and printers

Imagine being able to put in a drive, and plug in just one cable.

FireWire does that today. Check it out:

http://www.firewireworld.com/

FireWire (aka IEEE 1394 or i.Link) does this: power & signal on the same cable. And it is designed to be used with hard drives & other high-speed, high-bandwidth devices, such as video cameras, 12x4x36 CD-RW drives, high-end scanners, hi-fi digital speakers, and home theatre systems (HAVi).

Check out http://www.firewireworld.com/ for some more info.

FireWire will be demoed running over plastic optic fiber (POF) this month. Check it out at:

http://www.firewireworld.com/news/2000/02/20000215 /1394fibreoptic.shtml

FireWire is also the basis for the high-speed networking technology of Home Audio Video Interoperability (HAVi) which will connect all your home theatre devices this summer. Hitachi, Philips, Sharp, and Sony all back this, among others. You can read about it on p. 35 of Popular Science right now (March 2000 issue).

Hot-swappable, connector-powered, up to 63 per bus, FireWire hard drives are nice. Firewire RAID is nice too. So are the scanners, VCRs, DVcameras (as you mentioned), still-picture cameras, CD-RW drives, digital hi-fi speakers, and DVD jukeboxes.

http://www.firewireworld.com/

http://www.1394ta.org/

Please stop with the FUD, okay?

The wireless is, like HeghmoH says, fully 802.11 compliant. It runs at 11 Mbps instead of bluetooth's paltry 1 Mbps, and yet Apple's airport tech is still compatible with this & all IEEE standard wireless devices.

Firewire (IEEE 1394) devices which I can think of off-hand: external, internal, & network hard drives, CD-RW drives, scanners, video cameras, VCRs, hi-fi digital speakers, etc.:

http://www.firewireworld.com/

http://www.apple.com/firewire/

http://www.softacoustik.com/

http://www.sel.sony.com/clubvaio/new s0024.html

http://www.1394ta.org/