WHAT IS BLUEETOOTH?

PENANG, Malaysia--After announcing last month that it had forged a partnership to bring the benefits of LAN telephony to wireless phone users, 3Com emphasized during its Asia-Pacific partnership conference that it is sustaining its leadership position in wireless networking, one of the three emerging markets it is focusing on. The other two are IP telephony and broadband Internet access.

Wireless networking--particularly the 802.11 and Bluetooth industry standards--is part of 3Com's business networking strategy to win market share with solutions based on the highest growth technologies developed internally or by best-in-class third parties.

"People are now expressing the need for wireless connectivity in a small environment like in the conference room or at home, or even in the car for cellular phones, PCs and PDAs (personal digitl assistants). In this kind of environment, Bluetooth Technology is proving itself better because it is cheaper and easier to use and will be embedded in the majority of consumer products which need wireless connectivity," said Edgar Masri, 3Com senior vice president for Business Development.

Masri also predicted that Bluetooth would be a working technology in 12 months.

Masri said that 3Com would sell wireless connectivity products anywhere in any commercial environment. The recently launched 802.11-based products, he said, will sell in any commercial environment.

3Com chair and CEO Eric Benhamou said 3Com is expected to position itself in wireless networking now that the third-generation solutions are expanding their support to subscribers for wireless applications. He also predicted that a few months from now, Bluetooth would be part of the wireless technology "banquet." With this, 3Com vows to introduce new generation DSL (digital subscriber line) and cable CPU equipment for voice and data.

When asked about the obstacles wireless technology might encounter, Masri said that the issue is how to make the technology work first. But once that obstacle has been overcome, the next one would be how to bring that technology down to a price that would make it attractive to be embedded in a lot of equipment.

But the biggest obstacle, said Masri, is how existing technology will coexist with 802.11 and Bluetooth. According to him, there are grounds that could prevent Bluetooth from becoming a full-blown wireless technology.

"The frequency bands that Bluetooth and 802.11 use are conflicting, and that would be an obstacle in proliferating the use of Bluetooth. The next obstacle is the required distance between the device and the access point. For 802.11, it has a distance of about a thousand feet which is good, whereas Bluetooth--even in the best scenario--is (good for) 20 feet or so," he said.

Masri is optimistic that Bluetooth would be accepted in a smaller environment and in the personal area network.

A partnership was also forged by 3Com to bring the benefits of LAN telephony to wireless phone users. According to 3Com, through a new alliance, 3Com will embed its NBX LAN telephony technology into Symbol Technology wireless phones to give business users the ability to access NBX LAN telephony services campus-wide.

Masri added that 3Com's first step to provide the wireless carrier technology in any country is to approach the local telecoms firms first to test the markets.

"We've made it our strategy to approach the key telephone companies in each country, including the Philippines, to promote solutions which have been successful throughout," he said.