SCOTTSDALE, USA: WiQuest has been ranked at the top of the latest Vendor Matrix released by ABI Research. Alereon and Pulse~LINK claimed the second and third spots in the company's new evaluation of worldwide ultra wideband (UWB) integrated circuit vendors.

"The top vendors in the Ultra Wideband IC Vendor Matrix are established start-up companies that have totally dedicated themselves to the UWB and Wireless USB market opportunities," comments senior analyst Douglas McEuen. "The key success in terms of innovation for the top vendors was the ability to offer complete chipset solutions, or MAC and PHY chips combined with an RF transceiver."

For this particular matrix, under "innovation," ABI Research examined the availability of single-chip (MAC + PHY) solutions, RF transceiver offerings, and complete (MAC + PHY + RF) solutions. It considered products' data rates, their high-speed Bluetooth integration, and their wire/coax/Ethernet capabilities.

Under "implementation," ABI Research scrutinized the following criteria: market share, key customer announcements, financing (public or private), the firms' market tenure, the current product generation, and the WiMedia certification status.