Managing Bluetooth at work: Part 2

In the second part of this feature series, we look at how you can harness Bluetooth to work for your business and identify some of the sectors where it appears to be making inroads in the enterprise.

By Guy Matthews, 3 May 2007 at 15:49

gallery

In the first part of our spotlight on using Bluetooth in the enterprise, we considered the issue of securing the technology prior to deployment.

The security risk posed by Bluetooth, or at least the perception of the risk posed, is undoubtedly limiting corporate adoption of Bluetooth-based solutions on a wider basis than its more familiar uses. For many IT managers, Bluetooth is an open back door, best limited to hands-free car phones and wireless headsets.

Also holding up its credibility in the business world is a lack of understanding about what is really achievable with Bluetooth. For lots of IT professionals, it remains a modest consumer-focused technology that got lucky. But with the core Bluetooth specification now in its fourth version, Bluetooth has probably moved on from what it could deliver last time most IT managers checked in detail.

So it's time to consider again how Bluetooth can be made to work for businesses and pinpoint some sectors where it appears to be making particular inroads. We finish with a pair of examples of Bluetooth use at the very cutting edge, in the branding and marketing sectors.

Bluetooth in context

Bluetooth wireless technology is a short-range wireless standard for connecting a broad range of electronic devices.

Vendors basing solutions around it usually stress the attributes which they say set it apart from other wireless standards: its encapsulation in a small-form factor, its low power demands and modest cost implications, its robustness.

Research firm Millward Brown says it has done a recent survey that shows, almost incredibly, that some 81 per cent of people questioned in a variety of countries and walks of life are aware of Bluetooth at some level.

The proportion of those who know at least something about the technology is up from 73 per cent in 2005. The problem is that what they know may be largely old hat.

"We want people to think of Bluetooth technology for more than just a wireless headset, and use it to connect keyboards and mice, send photos and other data from a handset to a computer or printer or talk hands-free in their cars," said Dr Michael Foley, executive director of the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG), which contributed to the research.

Foley is especially keen to talk up Bluetooth's ability to send files and other data.

We are now into the third wave of Bluetooth adoption, says Scott Bibaud, vice president of communications with chipset vendor Broadcom.

"First there Bluetooth in mobile phones and headsets, when we were working to create general awareness," he says. "Then it moved onto PCs, playing a part in dial-up networking and printing. Then there's stuff that noone envisaged originally, like Bluetooth-powered Skype headsets around the home and office, connecting through your PC if it's in range."

New ultrawide-band, high speed Bluetooth, he says, is all about moving around large amounts of data from PC to phone. "I reckon we'll see 30 per cent penetration into networks soon," predicts Bibaud.

"More and more industries that were initially resistant to using an 'unproven' technology are recognising the benefits that Bluetooth can bring," says Stephen Evans, managing director of Brainboxes, a developer of Bluetooth-based solutions for a variety of industrial and public sector applications.