A
Wireless Revolution Called Bluetooth
Companies are
racing to build products with a new wireless system that could link every
machine on earth
Picture a boy
climbing on a train from Dusseldorf to Brussels, circa 2002. He switches on his
handheld video game, and after a couple of seconds a message pops up on the
screen: Someone else nearby is playing the same game, so would he like to join
in? By hitting ''yes,'' the boy sends a low-power radio signal that links his
machine to the other. It's as if they're connected by a cable. And the two
children, who might not even see each other, play as if they're sitting in the
same living room.
This is Bluetooth. First conceived in the Swedish laboratories of Ericsson (ERICY)
and named for a 10th-century Viking king, it's a short-range radio hookup that
resides on a microchip. A consortium of tech companies worldwide--from Intel (INTC)
and IBM (IBM)
to Nokia (NOK),
Sony (SNE),
and Microsoft (MSFT)--are
racing to build this hookup into their products. When Bluetooth is in place, for
instance, you'll be able to zap data from your cell phone to a nearby printer or
use your handheld Palm computer to control your DVD player.
Of course, similar radio signals already perform their magic, from buttons on
keys that unlock car doors to wireless PC networks in homes and offices. And
plenty of machines communicate through infrared signals. But Bluetooth proposes
a signal stronger than infrared and more pervasive than wireless office
networks. This one goes through walls. What's more, the radio signal carrying
one megabyte of data per second--about 20 times the speed of a dial-up
modem--can carry voices as well as data.
And Bluetooth proposes a common signal for the entire world. By offering the
technology free of royalties, the consortium is hoping to create a standard that
will spread to billions of machines worldwide. Cahners In-Stat Group, a Newton
(Mass.) research organization, predicts that Bluetooth will make its way into
1.4 billion appliances by 2005. This could generate $5 billion in sales, most of
it going to the chipmakers who are already designing computer chips with the new
radio systems.
Initially, Bluetooth will simply replace cables. With the first IBM computer
cards coming out this fall, for example, travelers will be able to synchronize
the data in their laptops and palmtops simply by putting them in the same room.
''A CORE TECHNOLOGY.'' Only a minor advance. But if Bluetooth takes off,
the wireless technology could spread to virtually every appliance, from cars to
gas meters. This could give birth to startling new networks in homes and
offices. Upon arriving in Tokyo, for example, a forgetful New Yorker with a cell
phone could turn off the oven back home and switch on the burglar alarm. ''Over
the next 12 to 18 months, it will become a core technology for just about
everything,'' says David Shirley, a marketing manager for Hewlett-Packard in
France. The implications are vast. Just as the Internet has lassoed together the
world's computers, Bluetooth promises to extend that network, by means of its
10-meter radio signal, to nearly every machine on earth.
Yet this new power brings with it new dangers. In a world where machines blab
among themselves, personal privacy is at risk. Users must take care to close
access to entire home and office networks to keep intruders from their bank
accounts and security systems.
This is all assuming that Bluetooth will take off like a rocket. But for that to
happen, the industry faces crucial tests. First, it must make sure that
microwave ovens, cordless phone signals, and other wireless networks don't
interfere with Bluetooth signals. Success could vary from region to region. More
important, manufacturers must come up with applications that are easy to set up
and operate. If this happens, demand should grow, which will in turn permit
chipmakers to produce in quantity, driving down the cost of a Bluetooth chip far
down from today's $50. ''If the price goes down to $5, you'll have Bluetooth
everywhere,'' says Thierry Laurent, general manager at Philips Semiconductors.
Industry experts expect those $5 chips within four years.
MORE MAGIC? The push for Bluetooth comes from Europe. The region raced to
world leadership in mobile phones by establishing a unified technology standard.
Looking for another dose of the same magic, Sweden's Ericsson three years ago
proposed a low-power radio standard to American chip titan Intel. The idea was
that everyone's products would fare better in the marketplace if they could
communicate wirelessly with each other. Since then, the so-called Bluetooth
Consortium has spread to include nearly 2,000 companies, including virtually all
of the big ones.
The Europeans, naturally, are banking on Bluetooth to enhance their specialty,
the cell phone. Already, nearly half a billion people carry mobile phones. And
with Bluetooth, the device could easily morph into an all-purpose remote
control. But the Bluetooth push is global. Asia's electronics giants are
devising wireless links for a host of consumer devices, from digital cameras to
MP3 players. And America's computer industry, led by Microsoft Corp. and Intel
Corp., is betting that home networks will grow around the PC. ''The key will be
next year, when Bluetooth comes out on Windows,'' predicts Michael W. Foley,
software architect in Microsoft's mobile-devices division.
For starters, Bluetooth will replace cables. Early applications will provide
links between laptops and cell phones. Travelers who want to Web-surf from a
laptop, for example, will be able to transmit through a Bluetooth-equipped
cellular phone connection, but without hooking up cables or relying on infrared
links. Indeed, they won't even need to remove the phone from their briefcase.
Bluetooth should also bypass the cables to PC accessories, from the mouse to the
keyboard. ''It has the potential to do away with six or seven ports on the back
of a notebook,'' says Ronald Sperano, IBM director for the mobile market. With
time, Bluetooth should forge new networks, leaving the cabled universe far
behind.
And how will this work? Imagine that a person with a houseful of Bluetooth-powered
appliances comes home with a new cell phone. As he switches it into the
receiving mode, the phone immediately carries out an inventory of the house. It
finds that the TV, the stove, and two computers have Bluetooth. It asks if he
wants connections with them. If he answers yes, the appliances link up. By
following menus, he can monitor the TV, turn down the oven, and exchange data
with the computers, all from his phone. And by calling into the network from a
cell phone, he can run the system from anywhere.
Things start getting complicated when someone else carries a cell phone into the
house. If the owner of the home network isn't careful to limit access,
promiscuous appliances will dally with just about anyone. Naturally, the
industry provides loads of protection, including encryption and passwords. But a
teenager, for example, might open the system so that a friend can play video
games or download music. And if that Bluetooth door is left open, outsiders
could barge in.
The new radio system could also convulse the phone industry. When people
carrying Bluetooth-powered cell phones enter office buildings, hotels, or
airports, their phones may well link up with the wired-phone systems in place.
This means that instead of making calls that are billed to their cellular
carrier--Vodafone AirTouch PLC, for example, or Sprint--they will simply hitch a
ride on the fixed-line network nearby. They could even do this at home, sending
cellular calls through a broadband connection. This could create vast islands in
the marketplace where the cellular carriers fail to cash in on traffic. Still,
free cell calls from the home and office may well lead people to switch for good
to mobile phones, which benefits the cellular industry. Says Stefan Krook, CEO
of Glocalnet, a Swedish carrier: ''The more people use their mobile phones, the
quicker the old-fashioned ones will disappear.''
PAYDAY. None of this will happen overnight. For now, would-be pioneers
have to fork out $100 for PC cards to equip their laptops with Bluetooth. It
won't be until next year that the system will come installed as a standard on
most PCs and cell phones, with printers, stereos, and televisions following in
short order.
That's when the rush begins--assuming Bluetooth is easy to use. And the payoff?
It could extend beyond the realm of machines, all the way to human
communication. Consider those kids on the train. Once the Bluetooth connection
is in place, chances are they'll peek above the seats and hunt each other out.
And if their languages are synchronized as smoothly as their machines, they
might even talk.
By Stephen Baker in Paris
from businessweek.com
Click
here to view some WAP technology
Click
here to view Cell Phone news
Click
here to view Cell Phone Buy Coke News
This news is sponsored
by
