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Bluetooth Wireless Devices Delayed
Sean Fitzpatrick writes: "From this article on www.arizonarepublic.com:
The future has been postponed, at least slightly. Bluetooth, the wireless technology to link computers, home entertainment appliances and other gadgets will not debut this summer as some manufacturers had hoped.
Story at http://www.arizon arepublic.com/news/articles/0721bluetoothon.html (free registration required)." The registration isn't too onerous, but be warned: it's a short article. The upshot is that Bluetooth won't arrive to Jes' Folks until at least the (actual) turn of the century, according to Joyce Putscher, director of a an Arizona research firm called Cahners In-Stat Group, and "several [unnamed] manufacturers." A shame, but when was the last time cool technology arrived conspicously early? If wishes were horses, then we'd already have Bluetooth.
YuNicks sez:
Nonsense: there's 802.11b, already running and on the ground. Coupled with IPv6 and the QoS guarantees it has, tell me what I can do with Bluetooth that I can't do with wireless Ethernet?
Bluetooth is NOT a wireless networking protocol. It's a wireless cabling protocol. Sure, it can do some of the same things, but it isn't intended for the massive amounts of data that pass through an Ethernet connection, but instead for the piddling bits and bytes that pass from keyboards to PCs and such. Bluetooth is low-power and will be adaptable to PDAs and cell phones; 802.11 last I heard required at the very least a PCMCIA card.
They're intended for entirely different purposes and situations; don't even think of them as competitors. 802.11 offers, as you note, the kinds of QOS -- throughput, robustness, security -- that corporations require to connect up laptops. It will make office networking much easier. Bluetooth isn't about that; it's about getting all the piddly little electronic toys you use to interoperate, exchange address books, and such.
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lake effect weblog
{Network engineer in Chicago--looking for work!}
Can't wait for Bluetooth? Then look into HomeRF. It's a mid-level wireless protocol that isn't going to be an IEEE standard and will probably eventually disappear, positioned as it is somewhere between the device-level connectivity of Bluetooth and the robust networking of 802.11b.
...
Mainly available to consumers in the form of Intel Anypoint and running at 1.6Mpbs, it's a decent solution for SOHO and hobbyist applications, and most important, it's in stores now, where a one-PC kit (no cards, USB pluggable) retails for around $60.
The minimal 802.11b "wireless ethernet" (or "Wi-Fi", ecch) configuration right now requires an expensive ($200-1500) base unit that's basically an Ethernet hub with robust IR ports, as well as IR Ethernet cards (~$100) for each PC to be connected. This will be fine for professional environments, who will demand the 11Mpbs throughput, but a bit steep for most consumers. (FYI, 802.11 is the protocol that Apple Airport and its PC sibling, Lucent's Orinoco, as well as future products like Cisco Aironet and 3Com AirConnect, run. For reasons probably related to "Steve Jobs", Airport base stations plus card can be had for as little as $400 total, while Orinoco and other companies' PC-compatible offerings run $1000 and up for essentially the same equipment. If all 802.11 products were available at the Airport price level, there would be no market for HomeRF at all.)
OK, if you are one of those "only the highest possible bandwidth will do" users, you will want to jump straight to the wireless ethernet offering, damn the pricetag. But for most people the most taxing thing they'll run is web-browsing, gameplaying, or Napstering, and since 1.6Mpbs is superior to almost any home internet connection, it won't bottleneck you. HomeRF gives you freedom of movement in your apartment or even backyard if you like for a reasonable cost.
I do expect Bluetooth to ultimately take over this market, since it will be available on many more devices than just computers, and may finally make things like remotely programmable air conditioners an affordable reality.
Bottom line: there are three wireless standards out there, and you're advised to read labels carefully the next couple of years. Me, I'll be trawling the 10%-off-returns shelves at Micro Center
[Disclaimer: I can't report yet on how well it works, I've just looked closely at the product so far.]
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lake effect weblog
{Network engineer in Chicago--looking for work!}