Intel, Belkin Pushing Ozmo, the Wi-Fi-Based Bluetooth Killer


Ozmo, a spanking new startup backed by Intel and partnered with Belkin, will demo its new Wi-Fi-based Bluetooth competitor at Computex on Tuesday 3 Jun 2008.

The system, which is the central part of Intel’s Cliffside concept, uses current Wi-Fi hardware to create secondary networks that connect with peripherals built with its new transceiver. The transceiver will have a power draw comparable to Bluetooth, but its biggest perk is that it’ll support enough bandwidth for the long, long overdue high-quality media streaming that the 'tooth could never deliver.

Intel claims that this tech could allow up to eight secondary connections (which would mean eight wireless peripherals at once) as well as a concurrent connection to a standard 802.11x network, all on existing Wi-Fi hardware. It looks like anyone running current-gen Intel wireless adapters can expect to be able to connect with Ozma chip-equipped accessories with what essentially amounts to a driver upgrade.

There aren’t any Cliffside-enabled devices on the market yet, but Intel and Belkin have enough resources and market presence to give the system a pretty good chance at catching on.


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