Bluetooth

Bluetooth is intended to get around the problems that come with both infrared and cable synchronizing systems. The hardware vendors, which include Siemens, Intel, Toshiba, Motorola and Ericsson, have developed a specification for a very small radio module to be built into computer, telephone and entertainment equipment. From the user's point of view, there are three important features to Bluetooth:

• It's wireless. When you travel, you don't have to worry about keeping track of a briefcase full of cables to attach all of your components, and you can design your office without wondering where all the wires will go.

• It's inexpensive.

• You don't have to think about it. Bluetooth doesn't require you to do anything special to make it work. The devices find one another and strike up a conversation without any user input at all. Bluetooth communicates on a frequency of 2.45 gigahertz, which has been set aside by international agreement for the use of industrial, scientific and medical devices (ISM). A number of devices that you may already use take advantage of this same radio-frequency band. Baby monitors, garage-door openers and the newest generation of cordless phones all make use of frequencies in the ISM band. Making sure that Bluetooth and these other devices don't interfere with one another has been a crucial part of the design process.