Stephen Lawson

A cable-free version of USB (Universal Serial Bus) took a big step forward on Tuesday with the completion of the Wireless USB 1.0 specification, but there is still some work to be done and questions remain about its prospects for widespread adoption.

The body that oversees the Bluetooth personal-area wireless specification wants to take advantage of emerging UWB (ultrawideband) technology to create fast networks that are backward-compatible with current Bluetooth products. The Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) was set to announce on Wednesday its intention to work with the WiMedia Alliance and the UWB Forum, which are promoting two different UWB technologies.

Cisco Systems Inc. has agreed to acquire VOIP (voice over Internet Protocol) vendor Sipura Technology Inc. for integration into its Linksys Group Inc. division, the networking giant announced Tuesday. Cisco will pay about US$68 million in cash and options for privately held Sipura.

WiMax broadband wireless technology will clear a hurdle Monday as Intel Corp. announces volume shipments of its Rosedale chip for the wireless broadband technology, people familiar with the company's plans said this week.

A group formed to head off VOIP (voice over Internet Protocol) security problems laid out its first set of priorities on Monday: setting up a taxonomy to classify threats and establishing the requirements for making VOIP secure. The VOIP Security Alliance (VOIPSA) was established last month and includes Verizon Communications Inc., Nortel Networks Corp., VeriSign Inc., PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP and about 50 other vendors and service providers.

America Online Inc. (AOL) within a month will launch a VOIP (voice over Internet Protocol) service in a bid to bring packet-based calling technology to the mass market, the top executive of the Internet service giant said Tuesday.

Enterprises can offer video participation in conferences set up with the latest version of Cisco Systems Inc.'s MeetingPlace software, which already supports simultaneous voice and Web conferences, the company announced Wednesday.

Intel Corp. will work with Clearwire Corp., a wireless Internet service provider founded by cellular pioneer Craig McCaw, on future networks based on WiMax wireless broadband technology.