Bluetooth’s image took a hit last week as a demonstration of the short-range wireless technology went awry at the CeBIT show in Hanover, Germany.
According to the Associated Press, the demonstration attempted to create the world’s biggest Bluetooth network, but failed after one of the computer servers failed to communicate with one of the transmitting devices.
The failure places yet another setback on Bluetooth’s course to become an international standard allowing devices from all manufacturers to communicate with each other using the unlicensed 2.4 GHz spectrum band.
“If it didn’t have problems at the beginning, it wouldn’t be a great technology,” Ulrich Woessner of German Bluetooth company Lesswire AG told AP.
David McCall, senior applications engineer for Bluetooth chip manufacturer Cambridge Silicon Radio, said the most likely cause for the meltdown was an applications issue instead of a technology issue. Even though CSR had nothing to do with the demonstration, McCall said the company was approached by the promoters of the show for the demonstration, but passed because the time frame was too rushed.
“I think it was more embarrassing for Lesswire than for the industry,” McCall said. “It was not a generic Bluetooth issue, but more of a software issue.”
The failed demonstration comes at a time when the Bluetooth industry was beginning to roll out devices to the market. While 2001 was predicted by many in the industry as the year for Bluetooth, most are now forecasting 2002 as the year Bluetooth becomes widely adopted.
Navin Sabharwal, director of residential and networking technologies at Allied Business Intelligence Inc., said the most recent delay in Bluetooth’s introduction can be traced back to the Bluetooth Special Interest Group pushing manufacturers to adopt the 1.1 specification for Bluetooth instead of the 1.0b specification. Unfortunately, most of the devices already released or scheduled for release this year are built to the 1.0b specification, and interoperability between the two is questionable.
“The 1.1 specification was only recently ratified and vendors that have `spec’d’ for 1.0b now have to re-certify for 1.1,” Sabharwal said. “Most vendors should be careful with 1.0b stuff since it might not be interoperable and that is key for Bluetooth. 1.0b was not supposed to be so bad.”
Sabharwal said the rectification process will set back the Bluetooth rollout for at least a few months, though he thinks the market will still be there for the technology.
“A lot of the issues concerning the specs are over interoperability,” McCall said. “We need to make sure the old Bluetooth stacks work with the new messaging schemes.”
Sabharwal noted another problem affecting the Bluetooth market is the softening of the wireless handset market, which is expected to become a large outlet for Bluetooth chipsets.
“Through no fault of its own, Bluetooth has been affected by the slowing handset market,” Sabharwal said. “It is hard to justify the additional costs of Bluetooth in a device when there is little use for it yet.”
A recent report by Visiongain predicted 40,000 cellular handsets would be shipped this year in the United States containing Bluetooth chips.
“Bluetooth will be successful if it associates itself closely with the 2.5G and 3G mobile technologies,” said Ben Thacker, senior analyst at Visiongain and author of The Bluetooth Report. “If Bluetooth can be included as a standard into new handsets of this type, its use will become commonplace and familiar, thus opening the door for expansion and diversification.”
While not ignoring the handset market, McCall said CSR is currently seeing more uptake from personal computer vendors who are used to working in shorter time frames as opposed to handset manufacturers who are used to working more than year in advance. Most of the applications for PCs are for Bluetooth PC cards.
Another concern regarding the 1.0b specification has surrounded interference issues with other technology using the 2.4 GHz spectrum band, including other wireless networking technologies such as 802.11b. With more companies introducing wireless networking into the work place, Bluetooth has had to find a way to play nice with the other technologies.
Interference issues were supposed to be handled by implementing frequency-hopping capabilities into the Bluetooth specifications. Unfortunately, Bluetooth’s fast hopping speed, up to 1,600 hops per second, actually increases its chance of landing on a frequency band that an 802.11b device may be using. This leaves 802.11b more vulnerable to data loss since it relies on one channel path for transmission, while Bluetooth can quickly hop to another channel with little harm.
“Bluetooth has to find a way to work with 802.11b,” Sabharwal said. “The onerous is on Bluetooth to work with them. I know of one Fortune 500 company that has banned Bluetooth in its offices because it is implementing a [wireless local area network] and does not want any interference issues.”
While the failed demonstration may have left Bluetooth a little red in the face, most feel that once the 1.1 spec is adopted, Bluetooth will finally be on its way to fulfilling its potential.
