Issued Mid May 2002 by Stan. SWAN => s.t.swan@massey.ac.nz <= Massey University -Wellington Campus. _______________________________________________________________________________ 

 A new short range wireless PC networking technology, called Bluetooth (!), is beginning to appear. What features, costs, & performance does Bluetooth offer compared with "traditional " links such as Infra Red ( IrDA ) & the emerging wireless LAN (IEEE 802.11b "Wi-Fi" ) approach ?

 Answer: Bluetooth (named after a blueberry eating Y1K Viking king, famed for unifying scattered Danish provinces ) refers to a very short range ( under 10 metres ) low power (1 milliWatt "flea power") 2 way radio link operating in the globally license free 2.45 Ghz band. Although this is exactly the same band as powerful microwave ovens, Bluetooth exploits frequency hopping ( 1600 times a sec. over 79 freqs. ) to achieve outstanding noise immunity at data speeds to 1Mbps. This is slower than infra reds 4Mbps, BUT however is omnidirectional & so passes through walls, packages, clothing etc- IrDA must of course be unobstructed line of sight. It's even slower, with less range, than Wi-Fi (12Mbps to 50m+), but that new technology is designed for more costly and complex LANs. Bluetooth allows up to 8 similar devices to join in a spontaneous "piconet" network, & is viewed as highly suitable for linking PCs/Apples, hand held organisers( espec. Palm and now Pocket PCs =WinCE V.3), cell phones, digital cameras, headsets, printers,mice, modems, stereos, TVs, videos , faxes, & even cars (tires and keys !) & fridges etc. Simultaneous voice & data can be easily handled, all via "Look Ma - no wires ".

 Standards initially began with heavyweights Ericsson, Nokia, Intel, IBM, & Toshiba, but it's had great support from most other makers who view it as an ideal method for seamlessly linking all manner of electrical products, allowing them to "talk to each other " by radio waves in a Personal Area Network (PAN). It's been hailed as the best radio development in 20 years - some even say it could eventually be as ubiquitous as the microprocessor itself !! Bluetooth has few obvious competitors, with even IrDA seen as complimentary, & may soon be in built (as an approx. postage stamp sized chip ) into most electronic gear , for under $NZ 20... cheaper ( & certainly SIMPLER ) than existing cables. Other wireless LAN technologies may have more range OR speed, ( sometimes both !) but are far more costly & and demand recent high level OS such as WinXP ( which came with Wi-Fi support but NOT Bluetooth ). All 3 wireless approaches should still have their "niche" however , with security aspects of Wi-Fi especially a drawback compared with Bluetooth, and the simplicity & cheapness of IrDA beating both !!

 Bluetooth began to arrive 2001, initially with IBM/Toshiba notebooks & Ericsson cell phones . Numerous web / Usenet/ discussion group refs - typical are www.bluetooth.net , www.bluetooth.com & www.newstooth.com .  Check Newsgroup * alt.cellular.bluetooth * too. Winner of late 1990s Technical Innovation awards, but the 2002 marketing takeoff of Wi-Fi has rather eclipsed Bluetooths unique benefits and cheapness.