Bluetooth rival steps forward

The Wi-Fi Alliance has released details about a new Wi-Fi specification which is to take Bluetooth head-on in the battle for short-range wireless communication.

Called Wi-Fi Direct, the standard allows for peer-to-peer connection between devices even if there's no Wi-Fi router present. The new specification which is said to ship sometime in 2010.

Wi-Fi Direct will allow connection between numerous things, like PCs, printers, phone handsets and cameras. Wi-Fi Direct improves speeds with mooted transfer times of up to 250Mbps. Bluetooth currently tops out at just 11Mbps.