Went to a conference today where chairmen for 802.15.4/ZigBee and for 802.11 spoke about status…
802.15.4/ZigBee - Eaton’s “Home Heartbeat” is nearing the home automation market. Some info on it via Google search. Control4.com - also near. Haven’t heard status of Hawking’s ZigBee work of late. (I have been using ZigBee modules from Maxstream and SiLabs. I’m pretty impressed with the prices and range, esp. the 60mW radios)
802.11 - I was surprised to hear the chairman say that 802.11n won’t be published until late 2007. This underscores the futility of buying pre-N products - if you expect cross-vendor interoperability with the improvements over generic 11g.
There was discussion of 802.16 WiMax and the likelihood of every seeing 802.16e (mobile WiMax).
One person asked the panel about ZWave vs. ZigBee. You can imagine what the panel said.
I also heard in the hallways that Intel is selling off/dumping their WiFi and other wireless divisions in a cost-cutting move. So long Centrino. I think being acquired by Intel was Z-Wave’s goal.