New wireless technology gets standards nod

The Near Field Communication (NFC) radio frequency technology jointly developed by Sony and Royal Philips Electronics has received standards approval, the Japanese company announced on Monday. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) approved the NFC technology for the ISO/IEC IS 18092 standard. The technology allows portable devices within 20 centimeters of each other to wirelessly transfer data at speeds up to 424 kilobits per second, using the 13.56MHz radio spectrum. Products using NFC technology are expected to be available early next year.

The NFC technologies developed separately by Philips and Sony--Mifare and FeliCa contactless integrated-circuit card, respectively--are included under the standard and are compatible. The two companies announced their NFC efforts in September of last year.