For those interested, I posted this on another site, and thought...

For those interested, I posted this on another site, and thought any Hotcopper reader interested in this company may like to read this as well. References to 'previous discussions' or 'interesting thread' refer to discussions on that other site.

This has been a very interesting thread. Thanks to all who have contributed, bringing it to our attention. I have a few questions, that possibly the previous posters may or may not be able to answer for me. My questions obviously do not revolve around the financial figures and numbers for this company and its incipient technology, as there are none, but are related to its potential into blue sky - sustainable blue sky, that is.

On April 1 of this year, the Australian Communications Authority gave out the first licence for UWB - ultra wide band technology. UWB is one possible future of wireless technology, and many think it will replace current wireless technologies, not to mention POTS. UWB is described as 'genuinely revolutionary', and has an extensive range of applications. UWB is already a workable technology, and one UK analyst has stated: "There is a massive demand already and we predict there could be 200 million devices out there by 2005. There could well be a couple of devices per household across the UK."

To be honest, given the regulatory blockages, I find such a prediction extremely optimistic. The gentlemen obviously wasn't culled when the dot-com bubble burst, and he's still talkin' that talk. However, this does not mean at some stage we will be seeing UWB technology in our homes and businesses in the near medium term future.

So what is UWB? Well, I won't go into the tech stuff. Probably because I don't understand it myself. I'm the sort of jockstrap who actually pays a mechanic to fix my car when it has a problem. My engineering prowess extends as far as changing a tyre, and not much further. But think of this: if you had the choice to swap to a device where you could download a movie over the internet in a couple of minutes, with a power drain over a 100 times lower than current wireless or wired technology, would you swap to it? The download rates for UWB are at least 500 Mbps at the moment, and probably over 1 Gbps, and increasing rapidly. As a comparison, your Bigpond ADSL will get you at most 1500 Mbps downstream. And that's without dropouts. The other enormous advantage for UWB is its inherent scalability. There is no slow down as you add devices to the network, and the network is extremely reliable. It is also extremely low cost.

But this is not the only application UWB has; its uses stretch much further than data downloads, and these include: "imaging of buried objects, surveying the structural components of buildings for defects, through-wall imaging for security or law enforcement, medical imaging, sensing systems used to avoid motor vehicle collisions". All of this is possible with currently available technology. I think you can see why it is revolutionary. The potential in many areas is truly phenomenal. Attached to the end of this post are some links to some US companies who have already come up with uses for this technology. My favourite is the golf ball finder.

The reason why I bring UWB to this thread, is that the advent of this technology severely limits the window of opportunity for other Wi-fi. If Unwired are able to use their towers to utilise this UWB technology, then the blue sky for them becomes that much more a shade of cerulean. If, however, they fail to get a license, or are unable to transfer, then their ownership of certain spectra will fall the way of the gramaphone record, or magneto tape. The window of opportunity for Unwired, with their current technology, is a narrow one.

As I have stated, already the Australian regulatory body has distributed a license. UWB is on the way, and when it comes it will be the disruptive technology par excellence.

This is not to say Unwired are not worth investing in. Their exploitation of the gaps offered by Telstra's services is a sound decision, and they will no doubt gain customers from disenfranchised Telstra customers, let alone ISP's who are sick of Telstra sucking money out of them through having to use Telstra's 100 year old copper based technology. I have no doubt in coming months that Unwired's business will expand, especially with the management they have on board. My concern with the Unwired network is that it will be replaced at some stage. When and where I cannot tell. UWB is completely different to Wi-Max or any of the 802 standards. In the mean time, make hay while the sun shines with Unwired. Just remember a little way down the track (18 months? A decade?) their technology will be replaced.

The inventors of UWB invented something else you may or may not be aware of: the internet. But the military are much, much more enamoured of this baby than they ever were with the internet. If that is any indication, I have the strong feeling this is coming our way whether we want it to or not, who knows? Maybe it is already with us in some capacity.

Quotes in this post were sourced from:

http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/communications/0,2000061791,20274285,00.htm

http://www.aca.gov.au/aca_home/media_releases/media_enquiries/2004/04-24.htm

US companies using UWB: (including the golf ball finder)

http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/mar2000/nf00316a.htm