For Bluetooth standard, no pain equals no gain

For Bluetooth standard, no pain equals no gain
By Yuval Ben Ze'ev, EE Times
May 14, 2001 (10:37 a.m. EST)
URL: http://www.eetimes.com/story/OEG20010514S0034

The media coverage of failed Bluetooth demonstrations at the CeBIT trade show in Hannover, Germany, reminds me of a story about Mark Twain. In 1897 Twain was living in London when the correspondent for the Evening Sun told him his death had been reported in New York, and asked what he should cable in reply.

"Just say the report of my death has been greatly exaggerated," said Twain.

Everything about Bluetooth is greatly exaggerated, both the promises and the pitfalls. One frustrating aspect of the CeBIT media attention was the scant coverage given demonstrations at the same show, including those by my company, that were successful and demonstrated a road map of interoperability. But the publicity about the failed demos is not the end of the world for Bluetooth, just another obstacle to overcome.

Part of the problem is the catchy name. The inventor of the standard, Ericsson, named it after the 10th-century Viking warrior who united Denmark and Norway, King Harald Blatand (in Danish, "Blue Tooth").

The name has more marketing pizzazz than Home RF or 802.11b. However, this Viking sword cuts both ways. When Bluetooth did not materialize as fast as hoped, headline writers loved the pun possibilities, such as "Teething pains for Bluetooth" or "All I want for Christmas is my Bluetooth."

Another problem is the very enthusiasm of those involved in bringing Bluetooth into the world. Many of the predictions about delivery dates and chip costs have been premature. The energy devoted to Bluetooth prognostication should be redirected to implementation. No great technology in history has reached ubiquitous implementation within a 12-month period. Why should Bluetooth be different?

Few standards in the history of electronics have garnered this level of interest and momentum. More than 2,000 companies have made investments in seeing Bluetooth succeed. The ability of the Bluetooth Special Interest Group to establish a global standard of such widespread endorsement and consensus is unparalleled in communications history.

My fellow Bluetooth chip and software developers might argue that at a forum so important as CeBIT, nothing less than demonstrating a perfect user experience would do. They reason that every challenge Bluetooth faces, from security to interference, must be worked out in the prototype phase. In my opinion, this is a miscalculated view that can only slow the development and acceptance of Bluetooth.

There will be more failures before Bluetooth becomes prevalent. Like other complex technologies, Bluetooth will grow to maturity while having the normal difficulties. The sooner we tackle them, the sooner we can deliver the promise of a wireless world.

Yuval Ben Ze'ev is President and Chief Executive Officer of Brightcom Technologies, a fabless silicon and software solutions company headquartered in Israel.