Beginning next week in Barcelona, Spain, the Mobile World Congress will play host to some of the biggest names in mobile technology. Already in the spotlight ahead of the official start of the festivities – which span February 14-17th – Qualcomm is promising to show off its newest advancement in peer-to-peer wireless technology.
Qualcomm’s technology innovation, called FlashLinq, “enables devices to discover each other automatically and continuously, and to communicate, peer-to-peer, at broadband speeds without the need for intermediary infrastructure.”
According to an official press release from Qualcomm teasing next week’s MWC demonstration, FlashLinq advances a concept known as proximal communications, whereby users can continuously connect, disconnect and communicate directly with other mobile users at broadband speeds based on their physical proximity.
The technology is “designed to complement traditional cellular-based services” and serve as a scalable platform for new types of applications.
“By expanding the operator model of managed services to the frontier of proximal communications, Qualcomm continues to demonstrate its leadership in wireless technology and innovation,” said Ed Knapp, senior VP of business development and engineering for Qualcomm. “FlashLinq’s direct discovery and distributed communications allows operators to naturally extend their cellular networks. The technology can efficiently support new and enhanced services in areas such as direct local advertising, geo-social networking and machine-to-machine communications.”
Qualcomm plans to collaborate with SK Telecom to trial FlashLinq in South Korea and explore potential commercial uses.
