Bluetooth

Presently, data transfers between the PC and printers, scanners, fax machines and modems, as well as communication between a laptop and a cellular phone, still require inconvenient cable interconnections and the time-consuming installation of drivers. Wouldn’t it be nice if all your data-processing devices could independently converse with each other, with no need for cables or driver installation? This is now possible, thanks to Bluetooth, a short-range radio system that renders cables redundant and which should allow new applications to be developed.Nokia Mobile Phones, Ericsson Mobile Communications, IBM, Intel and Toshiba recognized the potential of this technology and founded the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (BSIG) [1,2] in May of 1998. Its objective is to define a universal standard for radio data communication between data-processing equipment. In the beginning, the main area of interest was data transfers between cellular phones and peripheral equipment, in order to eliminate annoying and inconvenient cables. Later, the area of interest was extended to include other applications, ranging from wireless connections between PCs and laptops and their peripheral equipment to the ad-hoc configuration of wireless networks.