4. The struggle to Adopt Standard for UWB

Road to standardization
Previous battles in technology standards have demonstrated the handful of ways in which a specification can become known as a "standard". First, standard proponents from each side can align themselves with a major standards development organizations, such as the IEEE , and seek official recognition.If the time and cost of sending company representatives to IEEE meetings is a burden, companies could also try their luck by taking products with the standard straight to market.
In some situations, a technology may become a de facto standard in the marketplace. For example, Intel computers running Windows,known as the "Wintel," become a "standard" of sorts after marketplace success.
What is being observed in the process of developing a standard for UWB can show us one way on how a standard can be developed. So i found it interesting to look at what has happened and what is happening to the standardization process of UWB.

The Stagnated IEEE process
A dedicated IEEE task group, known as 802.15.3a or TG3a, has been reviewing proposals for a UWB standard since January 2003. In July 2003, the competition narrowed to two proposals: one from an Intel-backed group( which is now the WiMedia Alliance) and one from a Motorola-backed group (now known as the UWB Forum). For nearly three years, progress toward an IEEE-recognized standard has been virtually deadlocked.
Members continue to vote between only these last two proposals. Except for one occasion, the WiMedia-backed proposal has always earned a majority of votes, with typically 60% of voters in favor of their proposal. However the proposal has never been able to gain the 75% of votes needed of votes needed for the confirmation vote. The UWB Forum's proposal,which received just over 50% of votes on one occasion in July 2004, was also unable to gain the 75% majority to confirm their proposal as the standard.
Members of the TG3a have been frustrated at the endless voting cycle. The WiMedia Alliance has accused the UWB Forum of Hiring a pool of "consultants " in order to pad voting numbers at IEEE meetings. Both sides admit that some task group members may be voting for the proposal supposed by their company, rather than backing the most technologically sound proposal.While this practice may come as little surprise, it is cited as yet another reason why proponents cannot agree to one standard.
Finally, in January 2006 the TG3a group has officially voted to disband.

So, is there any standard for UWB technology today?
After shutting down the IEEE 802.15.3a, both the WiMedia Alliance and UWB Forum have continued to take steps to advance their proposals in the market place.

In seeking an alternative to the IEEE processes, WiMedia Alliance members approached Ecma and requested that they undertake UWB standardization. Ecma agreed and the technical commttee TC20 began working immediately, using the WiMedia specifications as the starting point of the work. Created by WiMedia members from leading PC, CE , mobile device and semiconductor companies, these specifications set the groundwork for enabling short range multimedia file transfers at data rates up to 480Mbps that operate in the UWB spectrum of 3.1 to 10.6 GHz . The Ecma standards were established in December 2005, after which Ecma submitted the standards to ISO/IEC JTC 1 for fast track approval. Finally on March 2007 The WIMedia Alliance announced that the Ecma International standard for ultra-wideband (UWB) technology has been approved for release as an ISO/IEC international Standard.

After being released as an ISO/IEC international standard, the WiMedia Alliance group's UWB technology is gaining much acceptance than the UWB Forum group's . But this does not mean that the WiMedia Alliance group's technology has already won the race. The UWB Forum are also bringing their technologies to market at this time. Even though WiMedia group is gaining momentum at this time, the ultimate winner will be decided by the market.