This is the same as the maximum data rate of the WiMedia UWB variant, and that's not a coincidence. Intel is also the main force behind Wireless USB, and it developed the protocol with that in mind. The rest of the Alliance was only too happy to go along, and not just because many of them are start-ups dependent on Intel's venture capital.
The theory is that USB is already the world's most popular communications standard. It has an installed base of more than 2 billion devices, with around 600 million more shipping each year. The Alliance hopes this will provide UWB with a ready-made mass market.
Most of the 2 billion USB plugs won't be replaced by UWB, of course. A USB port provides power as well as communications, which a wireless link can't. Everything will need either its own electrical connection or a battery, which will likely mean that flash drives and other devices intended to be small and cheap will still need to be physically plugged into PCs. The same applies to input devices, though researchers are working on ways to generate power from the motion of a user pounding on a keyboard or clicking a mouse.
However, the lack of power isn't a problem for devices such as printers, PDAs, and cameras, which are likely to be UWB's earliest adopters. And it can even open the way for new applications, such as peer-to-peer file transfer between laptops. Unlike the legacy parallel and serial cables it replaced, regular USB can't be used for direct PC-to-PC links. According to the USB Implementers Forum, which oversees the standard, some vendors have tried. Unfortunately, their cross-cables can link the power supply of one machine to the data bus of another, destroying both.
Wireless USB has other advantages over its wired predecessor. The present USB architecture requires a hub, just like traditional Ethernet. Most PCs make this invisible by including a small hub of their own, but it becomes an issue when additional ports are needed. The wireless version uses the airwaves as a hub, allowing ad hoc networks of up to 128 devices.
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