The AP's Peter Svensson reports that Alereon today announced the first ultrawideband (UWB) chipset that's legal for use worldwide as a wireless USB solution.

"The new chip could prove an important step in persuading computer makers to incorporate the technology," Svensson writes. "A few wireless USB products are already on the U.S. market, but they send and receive signals over a frequency that isn't legal in most of the world because of potential interference with radar."

The new chip, the AL5100, uses frequencies from 3.1 to 10.6 GHz, which covers all 14 radio bands used by UWB worldwide.

More here from Wi-Fi Planet ... more here from Wi-Fi Networking News ... and the press release is here.