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One of the most difficult challenges that faces hardware designers is the need to incorporate two different wireless antennas, one for WiFi and one for Bluetooth, in their devices. The loss of space and the additional power drain is a longstanding liability for such devices as mobile phones, laptops and UMPCs and often causes designers to need to opt for one or the other, a solution that seldom pleases consumers. At Computech last June, a company called Ozmo (in association with Intel) announced a novel solution to the problem, a new approach to WiFi so that one antenna could be used for both PANs as well as traditional wireless WAN/LAN connections, eliminating the need for a separate Bluetooth antenna.

Since then Ozmo appears well on it’s way of making this concept a reality. They have released a wireless audio reference design with Wolfson Microelectronics that would support such devices as headsets and wireless speakers as well as a wireless mouse reference design with Avago Technologies.

Intrigued by the potential effect this technology would have on mobiles devices, MobilitySite wanted more information and therefore approached Roel Peeters, one of the founders of Ozmo and it’s current Vice President of Marketing/Business Development. We are pleased to present this exclusive interview with Mr. Peeters about Ozmo’s new technology as well as his views on the future of mobile devices.

MOBILITYSITE: Thank you for speaking with us today Mr. Peeters. First of all, please introduce us to Ozmo Devices’ PAN solution and its various components.

Ozmo Devices is the leading provider of Wi-Fi PAN (Personal Area Network) for peripherals.  Ozmo extends the functionality of Wi-Fi-enabled platforms to seamlessly communicate with low-power wireless peripherals such as mice and headsets.  Ozmo Devices’ innovative two-part solution includes a driver that coexists with the host platform’s Wi-Fi device and a chip embedded in the wireless peripheral.

MOBILITYSITE: Please tell us a little about Intel’s Cliffside project and Ozmo’s involvement with it.

Cliffside is the codename for a Wi-Fi PAN technology developed by Intel’s Mobility Group.  Cliffside technology allows a single Wi-Fi adapter to function like two separate virtual adapters.   One of these virtual adapters can connect to a Wi-Fi access point.  The other virtual adapter enables a Wi-Fi PAN that can operate concurrently with the first adapter’s router connection.  Off-the-shelf Wi-Fi certified devices as well as Ozmo-based peripherals will be able to connect directly to a Cliffside Wi-Fi PAN.

MOBILITYSITE: Will current laptops be able to take advantage of Ozmo enabled peripherals?

The first platform to support the Ozmo functionality will be Intel’s, as part of their Cliffside program.  An official launch date for Cliffside technology has not been announced; however consumers can expect this technology to become available for their Intel Centrino 2 Processor Technology based notebooks in the near future.

MOBILITYSITE: What do you think are the main advantages of a WiFi PAN as opposed to Bluetooth?

Because the Ozmo solution is ultra-low power and highly integrated, it is ideal for wireless peripheral applications like mice and headsets that require a small form factor and long battery life. Ozmo Devices’ approach delivers unprecedented cost savings for system developers by leveraging the existing Wi-Fi device to provide concurrent WLAN (Wireless Local Area Network) and WPAN (Wireless Personal Area Network) functionality. This breakthrough convergence solves integration and coexistence problems associated with traditional WPAN approaches like Bluetooth and proprietary technologies.  Inside the peripheral, Ozmo’s battery life will be about 3x longer compared to Bluetooth.  As an example, the mouse battery life is 9months for Ozmo, versus 3-4months for Bluetooth; talk time for a voice headset is 15-20 hours for Ozmo, versus 4-6hours for Bluetooth.

MOBILITYSITE: How is Ozmo approaching the security/mobile virus question? Will this solution utilize standard WAP/WPA encrypting?

Security is built-in from the get-go.  Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS) is utilized for pairing, and highly secure 128-bit AES encryption in line with IEEE802.11(i) is used to encrypt all traffic.

MOBILITYSITE: Looking into the future, what do you think the role of mobile technology will be in 5 years time?

The growth of mobile technology will continue unabated.  Because of the shrinking form factors convergence of wireless technologies will be a must. Wi-Fi PAN is a great example of WLAN/WPAN convergence already happening.

MOBILITYSITE: Finally, what mobile devices do you personally use? What device
currently on the market most intrigues you? What do you think is the ‘killer app’
(if any) for mobile technology?

I’m most intrigued by the iPod Touch.  The combination of portability, Wi-Fi connectivity, usability and high quality audio/video makes it a next-gen device, redefining how content is experienced and consumed.  If I had to pick one ‘killer app’, I would say usability.  A lot of the technology exists today, but it is not available in a way that can be easily accessed and consumed by consumers.  Providing a seamless user experience will be the critical factor in further mobile technology adoption and proliferation.

MOBILITYSITE: Thank you again for your time, Sir, and good luck in the future.

Zealot (446 Posts) - Website | Twitter | Facebook

By day a department manager and writer for a major network device vendor...by night Zealot stalks the mean magnetic streets, striking fear into the hearts of bandwidth abusers and theme park mascots. Zealot has been involved with mobile devices for more than a decade now, starting off with dumb phones, moving to PDAs and then to smartphones, notebooks and netbooks with the odd PMP thrown in. Most of his mobile time currently is spent on a Treo Pro, Zune HD, Thinkpad T61, Gigabyte M912M or a Hackintoshed Compaq Mini 704. He proudly groks the Geek community and considers himself a Neo Maxi Zune Dweebie (thanks Will Wheaton!).