USB-IF to Develop Media Agnostic USB Spec

The USB Implementers Forum announced the development of the Media
Agnostic USB specification.

The specification is designed to allow wireless devices and
docking stations to communicate over the USB protocol, without the
need for a physical USB connection.

A design goal of the
specification is to achieve wireless gigabit transfer rates while
leveraging existing USB infrastructure, present in the form of:

• Open
  application programming interfaces in every major OS

• USB
  class specifications by USB-IF device working groups

• A
  wealth of open-source/OS specific drivers for USB classes

• Vendor-specific
  device drivers for a multitude of USB vendor-specific devices

The WiGig Serial Extension v1.2 specification from the Wi-Fi
Alliance will provide the initial foundation for the Media Agnostic
USB specification. The specification has been formally transferred to
the USB-IF from the Wi-Fi Alliance, and the it incorporates the USB
protocol.

"We are pleased to see the USB-IF use the WiGig Serial
Extension in its development of the Media Agnostic USB
specification," said Edgar Figueroa, president and CEO,
Wi-Fi Alliance. "Advanced
wireless usages of serial bus technology have the potential to
deliver great benefit to users."

Wireless devices implementing the Media Agnostic USB specification
will be compliant with SuperSpeed USB 3.0 and Hi-Speed USB 2.0. The
USB-IF has established a Media Agnostic USB Work Group which is
currently developing the MA USB specification 1.0.