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A
walk on the blue side
Look
ma, no wires!
 Imagine
a connected world minus wires. You can connect your laptop or
PDA to any device in the world! Or get rid of all those long
cables trailing across your office!
Bluetooth
a short-range wireless protocol for data transmission makes
it possible to do just this and much more.
Bluetooth
originated way back in 1998 when Ericsson, IBM, Nokia, Intel
and Toshiba joined hands to create a protocol for seamlessly
transmitting data between various devices sans cables. Bluetooth
is a short-range radio technology that allows wireless data
transmission between various computing and communication devices
up to a distance of 10 meters and offers data transfer rates
up to 1 Mbps.
But
isn't Bluetooth a case of too little, too late? Especially if
you consider that for a two-year-old technology, the number
of products available can be counted on your fingers. Also,
other competing technologies like the 802.11 offer better data
transfer rates, and that too over longer distances.
Well,
not exactly. Lets deal with both issues individually.
The
product scene
If
the skeptics are to be believed, Bluetooth sooner or later is
going to go the WAP way. Their reasoning: It's been over two
years plus and there are hardly any Bluetooth products available
in the market.
Well,
skeptics are wrong by a mile. Bluetooth products are slowly
appearing on the market scene in the form of Bluetooth-enabled
cell phones (Nokia, Ericsson), Bluetooth-enabled laptops and
PDAs, network cards, and so on. This doesn't exactly imply that
the technology is a success. As any new technology evolves,
it first attracts a niche user base of tech and gizmo enthusiasts.
Then, it has to survive for two-to-three years in the marketplace
before it gains mass acceptance.
And
with industry heavyweights like IBM, Nokia, Ericsson, Toshiba
and over 2,000 other companies participating and contributing
to the Bluetooth SIG (Special Interest Group), this technology
simply can't be dismissed.
The
competition
There
is an ongoing debate on whether Bluetooth competes with 802.11,
a WLAN technology. True, both technologies have some similarities,
since they are both used for WLANS and operate in the unregulated
2.4 GHz frequency space.
But
the similarity ends there. 802.11 transmits data about 15 times
faster and that too over longer distances as compared to Bluetooth.
But this higher speed and range comes at an inflated cost and
higher power consumption follows. This makes 802.11 ideal for
large corporate networks, while Bluetooth due to its low cost
and low power
consumption
is ideal for cellular phones, handhelds, laptops or wireless
networks with a smaller spread. In the near future you may even
see devices that support both Bluetooth as well as 802.11.
So
will Bluetooth become the dominant platform for wireless connectivity
in the future? If market pundits are to be believed, there will
be more Bluetooth devices
available
than you can imagine. Whatever rosy figures are tossed around,
this is one technology that holds great potential. Now only
if there was one of those really great products that exploited
this technology to its full potential!
Sandeep
Ajgaonkar
Assistant Editor
sandeepa@vsnl.com |
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