The WiMedia Alliance this week announced the first set of 12 chips certified on its UWB Common Radio Platform, from manufacturers Alereon, Artimi, Intel, realtek, Staccato, Tzero, WiQuest and Wisair.

"This is a pivotal development for UWB," says WiMedia president Stephen Wood. "WiMedia Platform Certification ensures a high level of interoperability among WiMedia-based applications and provides assurance to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) that products incorporating WiMedia Certified platforms will operate with minimal interference from other devices, enabling a positive user experience for their customers. With certified platforms available, manufacturers can begin utilizing WiMedia UWB in their consumer products at an accelerated rate."

"This is a big milestone that goes beyond the Certified Wireless USB announcements in the summer, as the USB part is an application, or a type of data standard that runs over the MAC layer, which in turns uses the PHY for communication," writes Wi-Fi Networking News' Glenn Fleishman. "This interoperability is a key part of establishing the broad range of devices and applications that work together. With certification set, end-user equipment makers or OEMs can start integrating UWB without fear that silicon would need to change or that a consumer electronics device would suddenly need a firmware upgrade."

More here from Computerworld ... more here from PC Pro ... and the press release is here.