The Future of Wi-Fi is Routerless

A new wireless standard could challenge Bluetooth for
peer-to-peer sharing supremacy.

Routers are the middle-men of our wireless networks; without
them, our Wi-Fi gadgets (laptops, hard drives, cameras,
printers, whathaveyou) can't talk to each other. But routers,
like most intermediaries, don't make anything easier -- not
at all. A new Wi-Fi standard is on the horizon that will let
our devices talk to each other directly. Ain't that sweet?

The new specification, which the Wi-Fi Alliance hopes will
start showing up in devices in mid 2010, is called Wi-Fi
Direct. But that's not all, a new Wi-Fi Direct device will be
backwards compatible with any previously released Wi-Fi
Certified gadget you have.

We've been salivating over technologies that allow for
instant transfers for a year now. At this year's CES, Sony
demonstrated a new technology called TransferJet, which let
data "jump" from one device to another when the two were
placed within a few inches of each other. Wi-Fi Direct is the
same idea, but on a broader scale; in addition to data
sharing for media files like video and photos (TransferJet's
forté), Direct can work with all kinds of data and software
apps.

Wi-Fi Direct will work with WPA security, to keep things safe
and private. Devices will be visible to each other within the
range we're used to with any hotspot connection and will
transfer at the same speeds, as well.