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Follow UsWhat is Bluetooth? Well, Bluetooth is a low-cost wireless technology initiated at Ericsson in 1994. The technology has been adopted by more than 1800 companies including IBM, 3Com, Toshiba, Motorola, Nokia, Intel, Microsoft and Lucent Technologies, besides Ericsson.
All these 1800 companies are members of the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG), which is an industry group consisting of leaders in telecommunications, computing and networking industries that are driving development of the technology and bringing it to the market. Bluetooth SIG members are from a wide range of companies — semiconductors, telecom, computing, software, consumer products, networking and automotive, among others. Companies such as Nokia, Ericsson, Intel and Motorola are active members of the SIG.
The word Bluetooth is derived from the name of a tenth century Scandinavian king, Harald Blatand ("Bluetooth") Gormsen, who managed to unite several unruly kingdoms. But coming to the Bluetooth wireless technology, in 1994, Ericsson Mobile Communications initiated a study to investigate the feasibility of a low-power and low-cost radio interface between mobile phones and their accessories. This led to a tidal change and applications involving a short-range radio link are now unlimited.
The essence of Bluetooth is that, it is a radio block that lets devices ‘talk’ to and fro, to each another. A terminal could talk to a server or printer and vice versa. It replaces cables, which traditionally connect different equipment. It makes them accessible behind walls. Unlike infra red solutions, Bluetooth technology is omni-directional and hence machines connected by it do not have to be within the line of sight. Bluetooth radio signals can travel right through walls. It can also be used with existing and new applications as well as technologies.
Opportunities for systems integrators
Bluetooth will certainly make LANs go wireless by replacing cables and wires. However, Bluetooth is not merely a wireless LAN. It is much simpler and goes beyond wireless LAN technology. Therefore, the channel community, especially systems integrators, will face new challenges and opportunities. Bluetooth can be expected to change the way they think and do business.
The very fact that more than 1800 companies have adopted the technology should convince the channel community that Bluetooth is not some overhyped flash in the pan. In fact, Bluetooth is also a de facto standard global specification for short-range wireless connectivity.
Awareness about this technology among Indian channel partners is rather low and they may soon be forced to wake up. Consider the facts. HP is already ready with Bluetooth-enabled printers, while IBM and Ericsson too are ready to launch Bluetooth-enabled products. In India, AU System and Infocomm Solutions have already created awareness about this technology.
The technology enables users to connect a wide range of computing and telecom devices easily, without the need to buy, carry, or connect cables. It can be used for home automation and entertainment, industrial control, surveillance, access control — the potential is limitless. Because Bluetooth can be used for a variety of purposes, it will also potentially replace multiple cable connections with a single radio link. Bluetooth-enabled cordless earphones for cellular handsets or PCMCIA cards are good examples of practical applications.
No need for licenses
Software developers, network vendors, peripheral and camera manufacturers, mobile PC and handheld device developers, consumer electronics, car manufacturers, besides test and measurement equipment manufacturers are increasingly looking towards Bluetooth. It can handle raw data of 1 MBPS with a peak asymmetric asynchronous throughput of 721 Kbps or three symmetric voice channels of 64 Kbps. Also, the location of the device is only limited by where it can get its power supply.
Since it works on a 2.45 Gigahertz ISM (industrial-scientific-medical) band, no license is required. But if the data being transmitted is encrypted, prior permission may have to be obtained from security authorities. However, these rules may vary from country to country.
Bluetooth has sufficient in-built encryption and authentication. In addition, a frequency-hopping scheme with 1600 hops per second is also employed. All these, along with an automatic output power adaptation, which can be used to reduce the range exactly to requirement, makes the system extremely difficult to eavesdrop.
For data and voice access points, Bluetooth wireless technology facilitates real-time transmissions, which makes it possible to connect any portable and stationary communication device easily. It is possible, for instance to surf the Net and send e-mails on a notebook, regardless of whether the user is connected through a mobile phone or wire-bound connections like PSTN, ISDN, LAN, xDSL etc.
No more cable attachments, please
Bluetooth eliminates the need for numerous cable attachments for connecting practically any kind of communication devices. Connections are instant and they are maintained even when devices are not within the line of sight. The range of each radio is approximately 10 meters, but it can be extended to around 100 meters with an optional amplifier. At least eight devices can simultaneously talk to and fro, in a typical Bluetooth environment.
Devices equipped with Bluetooth radios, establish instant connection to another Bluetooth radio equipped device as soon as they come into range. Since each Bluetooth device supports both point-to-point and point-to-multipoint connections, several piconets (a set of eight active units) can be established and linked together ad hoc. The Bluetooth topology is best described as a multipoint piconet structure. Thus, several terminals can be connected to a printer and server, without any cross-connections.
According to Mack Palomaki, MD of the Singapore-based AU-System Asia-Pacific, "Bluetooth technology would become all pervasive within five years and by 2005 all appliances would be Bluetooth-enabled". AU-System Singapore, is a subsidiary of AU System, Sweden, a leading supplier of consulting services and solutions for the development of advanced wireless and Internet technologies.
"The technology is gaining so much popularity that 100 million Bluetooth-enabled units are expected to be sold in the next one year and this figure is expected to go up to three billion units by 2005", says Palomaki, who was in the country recently to promote this technology. AU System, which is headquartered in Sweden, also happens to be a vendor of Bluetooth stacks.
Contribution from three streams
The technology is being adopted in three streams: mobile devices, desktop devices and consumer electronic goods. Mobile devices include cell phones, mobile computers and handheld devices and cameras while desktop devices consist of computers, desktop accessories, printers and Internet connection devices. Consumer electronics include cordless phones, telephone answering machines, TV sets, VCRs, DVDs and CD players. Each stream could contribute at least one billion units.
Though technologically there is no rival for Bluetooth, Palomaki feels that lack of awareness and high prices are inhibiting its growth. He is of the opinion that if big manufacturers enter the field and produce Bluetooth-enabled mass consumer appliances, the high volumes would lead to lower cost.
AU-System is looking at India at two levels. It is actively spreading the awareness about Bluetooth and other technologies in India so that it could tap the Indian intellectual capacities for software development. On the other hand, AU-System is also interested in the huge market potential in the country for emerging technologies. "The total market size in India would be in billions of units and if mass market products with Bluetooth technology enter, there is a large scope," says
Palomaki.
In fact, the action has already begun in India. According to N K Gupta, Senior Program Manager (Wireless Communication Division), of C-DOT Systems, "Bluetooth is a fairly new technology for India, which is becoming popular very fast. A couple of companies in India are developing applications around Bluetooth. Currently, they are working on Bluetooth protocol stacks and cards, targeted at foreign clients."
Girija Prasanna Swain, Senior Software Engineer of Lucent Technologies confirms that, "A couple of Indian companies are working towards developing embedded applications around Bluetooth. However, major work is done by mobile phone manufacturers who are actively involved in Bluetooth and user-based applications".
If Janakiraman, CEO of Mindtree Technologies, is to be believed "Ionic Microsystems is among the companies, which is actively involved in developing of applications for Bluetooth. The other companies working towards developing applications around Bluetooth are Wipro and
Mindtree."
Technology of tomorrow
But what would Bluetooth mean to channels? "Bluetooth is a technology for tomorrow. The awareness of the technology has not reached the masses. But the need for 'hands-free operations' is becoming popular and this would drive the importance of channel network in promoting this technology. I see this avenue as a bright new direction for channels to grow when the technology catches up," says N K Gupta.
Swain has a different opinion. "Its too difficult to predict the future of this technology with channels in focus. The cost of the product will be high when it hits the Indian market, as it would be early for us to expect mass production of these products. It would take at least three years for the product to be cost-effective. So it's premature to be talking about the role of channels in promotion of Bluetooth technology."
But Janakiraman is more upbeat about the role of channels. "Bluetooth is nothing but a cable replacement technology, which will make handheld devices like cell phones and laptops, nodes in a LAN without any cables. Though this has its limitations, which is of short range of 10 meters. I feel that channels will play an important role in the promotion this technology, but not directly," he says.
Once again there are different opinions about how exactly Bluetooth would impact India. Says Gupta, "I think the SOHO segment would be affected the most by this technology. It should not take more than a year or two for the technology to become popular among the masses. Moreover, with the increased usage of cellphones, Bluetooth cannot be far behind."
Swain too agrees. "The impact will be felt among corporate users of mobile phones and laptops. The technology is just catching up in the European markets. It might take three to four years for it to hit the Indian market," he says. Points out Janakiraman, "We can expect some of the products hitting the Indian market within a year. Around $ 75-100 goes into making of a Bluetooth product, which is on the higher side. This is expected to drop to less than $5 within the next year". Like Gupta, he too feels that the home and service segments would be impacted the most by this technology.
However, as things stand, Bluetooth products are already making their presence felt in the Indian market and it is only a matter of time before the channel community comes face to face with it. One such product is the Bluetooth headset that connects to cellular phones wirelessly.
Also, Bluetooth protocol stacks can be expected to hit the market in another three months, thanks to Hyderabad-based Infocomm Solutions Ltd. It is a 100 percent-owned subsidiary of the Singapore-based Future Techno Designs. The company is already in talks with Jet Airways and private sector banks, to Bluetooth-enable their operations, according to its Vice President-Marketing, B Rajesh Kumar. Infocomm is in the process of tying up with some of the leading Bluetooth vendors abroad.
Therefore, the Indian channel community should perhaps, take the SIG route. Indian systems integrators, vendors and brands must explore the possibility of joining this group of 1800 companies throughout the world, which have adopted this technology.
Such an approach has its advantages, because organizations joining the SIG get a royalty-free license to build products based on this technology.
That is not all. Member organizations are privy to special training as well. Special developer meets and seminars are also organized for their benefit. Also, there are ample opportunities for partnerships and co-development. Licenses have deliberately been kept royalty-free so that the technology and related expertise spreads as quickly as possible. Since Bluetooth is a technology that would be put to a wide variety of uses, it would make sense for Indian channels to familiarize with it at the earliest.
Bobby Anthony in Mumbai with Sunila Paul in Bangalore