According to In-Stat's recent report, Ultrawideband 2007: PCs Finally Hit the Global Market, the market for ultrawideband (UWB) is finally beginning to take off.

"Though regulatory hurdles over UWB still persist worldwide, the first UWB-enabled notebook PCs have shipped this year from Dell, Lenovo, and Toshiba," the research firm states.

"The primary question for UWB now is: will other product segments follow where PCs lead?" says In-Stat analyst Brian O'Rourke. "UWB is a very flexible technology in that it supports multiple standards, including WUSB, Bluetooth 3.0, IP over UWB, and Video over UWB. This should enable the technology to gain design wins in a wide range of product segments, including PC peripherals, Consumer Electronics (CE), and mobile phones."

Key findings of the report include the following: UWB-enabled notebook PCs hit the market in mid-2007. PC peripherals will follow in 2008. CE and communications applications with UWB won't hit the market in volume until 2010. In 2011, over 400 million UWB-enabled devices will ship.

More here from RCR Wireless News ... and the press release is here.