BLUETOOTH TECHNOLOGY: Instant Networking

Global majors like Compaq and IBM have announced to launch

PCs and notebooks equipped with the Bluetooth technology by the first quarter of

2001. This may mark the beginning of a new paradigm in intra-office connectivity–personal

area networking without cables.

Bluetooth promises potentially unlimited applications: a

market as huge as the number of devices that use cables for communication. IDC

estimates that by 2004, there will be around 450 million devices worldwide

enabled with the Bluetooth technology. A Frost and Sullivan study says that

Bluetooth will be far more successful than other short-term wireless

connectivity options such as HomeRF, DECT and 802.11. The study predicts global

Bluetooth chipset revenues of $2.3 billion in 2006 with chipset shipments at 956

million that year.

Corporates intending to deploy Bluetooth-based networks can

enjoy several benefits. Bluetooth creates its own wireless channel in the local

area required to establish communication between devices, sparing the existing

network for bandwidth. Communication among various Bluetooth devices is through

a wireless link having a bandwidth of 720 kbps. This is significant because the

bandwidth currently available in India is only 33—56 kbps. The connection

technology lies on the computer or the peripherals, so there is no need to set

up miles of cables connecting all the devices in an organization. No wires also

means less fixed equipment, so a company can set up shop with a minimal capital

expenditure.

What’s in it for India

India has much to benefit from the technology. PK Tripathi,

CEO and MD, Edutech Informatics India, says, "Adoption of Bluetooth could

help India transform into a wireless society much faster than other countries.

In India, the communication infrastructure has not developed to the extent it

has in other developed nations. This lack of point-to-point connectivity can be

suitably replaced by adopting Bluetooth." Companies from across the world

would be looking at India as an outsouring destination for the interoperability

solutions for Bluetooth. Adds Tripathi, "Interoperability is all about

establishing a wireless link between mobile devices through a short-range radio

link, as this is the part of the technology which allows the devices to

communicate between each other."

Pradeep Arora, GM, marketing, DCM Technologies, says the

factors favoring India in the Bluetooth scene are the resources available, the

shortened time to market and scope for customization and integration of the

technology. Aman Kansal of Yablue, a startup developing technology that can help

cheap deployment of the technology, says applications relevant to India would

include cheap access mechanisms to provide connectivity in public places and

commercial applications like fast payments at shopping complexes through

Bluetooth devices. Even applications available globally like car kits and remote

controls for home appliances would soon be available in India. Swaroop Dogra,

project manager, Amdocs, a Cyprus-based telecom billing and customer care

company, says, "The development effort will have to come mainly from

hardware device manufacturers."

Tacking problems

The technology implementation may not be impeded by issues

like bureaucratic delays and low bandwidth. As Dogra says, "The problems

might arise from the normal risks associated with implementing a new technology

in a crowded market. Bluetooth has a small target community and the technology

use might catch up fast for this group, which, however, does not form a

significant percentage of the population. There are competing products coming

from wireless LAN initiatives and the winner cannot be identified at this

stage."

But the security part of Bluetooth is not comforting,

transforming its "easy to connect" strength into a weakness. You could

be using your cellular for browsing the Net, while a person nearby may be using

the same instrument to make his call. Fortunately, since Bluetooth is a

short-range connectivity device–it has a radius of 10m–security will not be

a concern at the level of corporate networks. Current specifications do not

guarantee that two Bluetooth-enabled devices are compatible. Bluetooth-enabled

devices are currently available as clip-on devices and PC cards. An instance is

when the headset, which came with the cellular, is lost. An easy replacement is

difficult to find since the headset and phone would be manufactured in pairs

with the same authentication information. Every product has to be certified as a

bluetooth compliant device by an authority, which would cost money. And

presently, only eight devices can be networked to form a small network called as

Piconet. For device networks bigger than this, the technology would have to be

improved.

There are at least 15-20 companies in Bangalore and a

slightly less number of them in Hyderabad and Chennai which are offering

Bluetooth solutions. There is also an informal Bluetooth user group in Bangalore

with branches in Hyderabad and Chennai which exchanges inputs on the

developments on Bluetooth. 3Com, DCM Technologies, Hughes Software Systems and

IT&T are a few major companies involved in the Bluetooth scene in India.

Bluetooth-enabled devices would be popular among high-end segments of the

medical and hospitality industry in India. Consumer electronics will be slow

paced even if costs fall. And as Bluetooth-enabled devices are being launched,

the market will take another two-three years before it takes off.

BIJESH KAMATH



in New Delhi