Wi-Fi Direct arrives to compete against Bluetooth

Wi-Fi Direct is a wireless communication system developed by the Wi-Fi Alliance, that has as main characteristics the direct connection between devices, just like Bluetooth.

Wi-Fi Direct is a special protocol package that allows the interconnection of Wi-Fi devices without needing any router or access point.

Although the router will continue being necessary for the distribution of the Internet signal (with exception of 3G connections) the possibilities of Wi-Fi Direct are countless. The speed of data transfer is 25 times faster than the one with Bluetooth 2.0, without forgetting the security offered by WPA2. Each Wi-Fi Direct device is potentially a “software-based access point”, something that enables tethering of a connection to the Internet (suppliers are trembling). And to make things better, Wi-Fi Direct has backward compatibility with conventional wireless devices. For example, a Wi-Fi Direct laptop can be used as an access point for a compatible mobile phone with normal Wi-Fi.

The centralization of Wi-Fi Direct has begun, and already there are developers preparing products with this new technology, such as Atheros, Broadcom, Intel, Ralink, Realtek and Cisco, according to the Wi-Fi Alliance.

We are expecting to know more details of this technology, above all in matters of consumption, one of the strong points of their possible competitors, Bluetooth 4.0.