Gizmodo Australia » csiro

CSIRO Pockets A Cool $200 Million Through Wi-Fi Patents

Nick Broughall — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 23:45:05 +0000

According to Asher Moses at the Sydney Morning Herald, the CSIRO just received it’s first royalty paycheck for licences on its wireless data patents, which are the cornerstone for Wi-Fi. It was a cool $200 million. Looks like first round’s on them!

The paycheck, which follows on after years of legal battles, plus out of court settlements, is just the start of the money train too, with Wi-Fi such an essential part of computing and gaming these days.

So, three cheers for the CSIRO, for being awesome and rich.

[SMH]

CSIRO Pimping New Wireless Tech For NBN

Nick Broughall — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 00:00:50 +0000

Screw Wimax and LTE – The CSIRO has a brand new wireless technology in the works, and is pimping it to the government as a possible solution to the problem of rolling out the NBN to remote areas.

According to Grahame Lynch at Commsday, the CSIRO technology is still in the prototype stage, although it has been patented to the hilt already. The tech would be able to offer 100Mbps to the consumer (yeah, right), would operate of 30MHz of the analogue TV spectrum (once that gets switched off in 2013), and the backhaul could provide 10Gbps throughputs over 50km distances.

But despite being in the prototype stage, this new wireless tech would be cheaper to roll out. In Griffiths NSW, for example, only two base stations would be needed to give the whole town high-speed internet, whereas Wimax would require 23 and LTE would need 31.

While we’re all for shiny new technologies here at Giz, it seems that if this needs the analogue TV spectrum, it’s probably still a few years off being a real competitor to LTE or even Wimax…

[Commsday – Thanks Kevin!]

Buffalo Might Be Back in the Cheap Router Business With Patent Victory

Matt Buchanan — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 23:20:00 +0000

As the happy owner of a cheapass Buffalo WHR-G125 router running DD-WRT, the ridiculous BS patent lawsuit that got Buffalo being banned from selling routers in the US was deeply aggravating. Great news for Buffalo and reasonable people everywhere, CSIRO’s patent claims have been ruled invalid, and Buffalo is getting a new trial, so we’ll be able to buy Buffalo’s awesome cheapo routers again. One day, anyway. [Buffalo via Slashdot - Thanks Chubbs!]

Carbon Nanotube Manufacturing Breakthrough Could Mean Bye-Bye Steel

Kit Eaton — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 10:07:56 +0000

Carbon nanotubes have been popping on Giz for a while, touted as one of the next wonder-materials—but a new development in their manufacture means they may not remain “future technology” for long. In fact the work of a team at CSIRO and the University of Texas at Dallas means that commercial-scale production of sheets of carbon nanotube “textile” is possible at up to seven metres per minute.

And these are no ordinary textiles either: they’re transparent and way stronger than a sheet of steel. The team’s technique involves chemically-growing “forests” of nanotubes that self-assemble, and is reported in Science currently. If it proves true we may see nanotube materials replacing metals like steel pretty soon—though I’m not sure how many people would balk at flying in a plane with wings you can partly see through. [Physorg]

Buffalo Banned from Selling 802.11a and 802.11g Gear in the US

Matt Buchanan — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 21:39:20 +0000

Australia-based Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation has won a patent infringement suit against Buffalo in a US district court, enjoining sales on all 802.11a, g and n products made by Buffalo as of Oct. 1 (full list here). CSIRO is apparently suing the entire wireless LAN industry, so Buffalo has the quite the list of friends filing briefs on their behalf: Microsoft, 3COM Corporation, SMC Networks, Accton Technology Corporation, Intel, Atheros Communications, Belkin International, Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Nortel Networks, Nvidia Corporation, Oracle Corporation, SAP AG, Yahoo, Nokia, and the Consumer Electronics Association. If Buffalo doesn’t win its appeal, it clears the way for CSIRO to take on the rest of the industry, which could result in licensing fees being tacked on to all 802.11a, g and n products. Booooo fees. [Buffalo via Wi-Fi Networking News, Flickr]

CSIRO holding up 802.11n adoption?

Seamus Byrne — Sun, 23 Sep 2007 22:55:33 +0000

According to The Register, the latest news on IEEE finalising the 802.11n spec is that there is now a big sticking point over patent concerns related to our very own CSIRO. They are known to possess a patent essential to the spec, so without a guarantee that they will not sue anyone over the use of the technology the IEEE will not finalise the standard.

And the gear out there that is ‘draft-n’? Well that is already possibly open to being hit by patent suits if CSIRO cashes in their chips on this one. It’s not that they are shaping to do so, it’s just that they’re staying too quiet for the IEEE’s liking.

We’ve asked the CSIRO for their side of the story, but it’s still early on the first day back at work so we have yet to hear any word. We’ll share what we can if we do. [The Register]