Sony showed at CES a new wireless data transfer system capable of sending pictures, video and data over a range of a few centimeters.
Transfer Jet is a near-field communications technology that Sony wants to build into its range of portable devices to enable transfer without wires. With effective data rates of about 375M bps over a 560M bps physical layer, it’s faster (on paper, at least) than USB 2.0 and IEEE1394 FireWire.
Transfer Jet uses a 4.5GHz system (similar to UWB) and has no security or encryption (as Sony assumes it is safe enough when you transfer line-of-sight over a distance of centimeters.) The technology isn't related to Sony’s Felica system, used in smartcards across Asia but lacking the throughput for demanding applications.
For example, a digital camera equipped with Transfer Jet could transfer images quickly to a Sony's photo reader box and those could be viewed on a Sony TV seconds later.
Transfer Jet is still a year away, but looks to join the ranks of Sony proprietary technology that make Sony-only customers happy but frustrate the rest of us.
