 |
   |
|
 |
 |
|
|
 |
|
|
Read the latest press releases about Bluetooth wireless technology from members of the Bluetooth SIG.
Bluetooth wireless technology is ready for Enterprise
IT
May 6, 2003
SIG announces corporate IT initiatives.
Enterprise Market Gains New Applications and Tools for Utilizing
Bluetooth Wireless Technology
Bluetooth SIG Developer’s Contest
Winners Announced at WinHEC; Series of Implementation Guides Introduced.
NEW ORLEANS – May 6, 2003 – From the 12th annual Windows Hardware
Engineering Conference (WinHEC), the Bluetooth® Special Interest Group
(SIG) today announced initiatives to grow the number of innovative
Bluetooth wireless enabled applications, while educating corporate IT
executives and engineers developing enterprise applications using
short-range wireless technologies in corporate environments. Today’s news
builds on the Bluetooth SIG’s announcement last December of its “5-Minute
Ready Plan,” which aims to further improve the usability of Bluetooth
wireless enabled devices across multiple industry sectors and deliver an
enhanced out-of-the-box experience to wireless users.
“With
Bluetooth drivers and support embedded in Windows XP, Bluetooth is easy to
support in the workplace and is a secure, reliable way to connect
devices,” said Mike Foley, wireless architect at Microsoft Corporation.
“WinHEC, the key industry event for hardware engineers and driver
developers to receive future directions for systems and peripherals
running Microsoft Windows operating systems, is a great venue to discuss
Bluetooth usage benefits as well as current and future applications of
Bluetooth technology.”
Bluetooth SIG Developer’s Contest at WinHEC
To further encourage the development of wireless centric
applications, the Bluetooth SIG called on developers worldwide to speed
innovation by competing for the best new Bluetooth wireless enabled
application running on the Windows XP operating system. Mark J. Kramer,
president and CEO of BlueRadios, Inc. and X-traFun, Inc., was named the
first place winner this morning by Tom Phillips, general manager of the
Windows Hardware Experience Group at Microsoft Corporation, during his
WinHEC conference welcome.
Kramer’s entry, X-traFun is the world’s
first interactive multimedia Game Boy cartridge product and services that
enables wireless transformation of content information via the Internet.
The product communicates via Bluetooth to Microsoft Windows XP platform
acting as the home gateway and is capable of storing and retrieving
information transferred from the local computer’s file system to the
cartridge Flash or Secure Digital SD memory cards. Applications include:
Interactive Game Playing, Download New Episodes, Send and Receive e-Mail,
Chat/Text Messaging, Play .WAV Files, Stream Video, View Pictures,
Wireless Printing, Mobile (wireless Bluetooth), ISP (via Bluetooth enabled
mobile phone), Multiple Players (massive), Customize Ring Tones and Logos.
The Bluetooth SIG selected five finalists that were judged
yesterday by David English of ComputerShopper, Michael Kanellos of Cnet,
Paul Thurrott of Windows & .NET Magazine, Simon Ellis of Intel, and
Bluetooth SIG’s executive director, Mike McCamon. Judges used the
following criteria to determine the five finalists and the overall winner:
1) overall presentation quality; 2) application friendliness, considering
users, market relevance and marketability; 3) security, ensuring no
interception or interference of data from device to device; 4)
reliability, the application working time after time; 5) interoperability,
the keystone of Bluetooth wireless technology; and 6) innovation, or
uniqueness of the idea.
The remaining applications will be
displayed and voted on in the Bluetooth SIG booth (# 700) to determine the
People’s Choice winner to be announced at the WinHEC closing on May 8.
Today’s winner received a trip for two to Amsterdam, Netherlands, to
attend the 2003 Bluetooth World Congress, June 17 - 19.
Bluetooth
Wireless Technology Implementation Guides
In its continuous effort
to achieve a 5-minute out-of-box experience for all Bluetooth wireless
technology users, the Bluetooth SIG will introduce a series of
Implementation Guides for product manufacturers. The first Implementation
Guides will focus on the PC and mobile phone industries. In the guides, PC
and mobile phone product manufacturers will find best practice methodology
for incorporating user-friendly Bluetooth functionality in their future
products. In particular, the guidelines will specify common profiles and
security settings among other optional items in the specification. This
effort is another milestone in the SIG’s 5-Minute Ready Program announced
in December.
Bluetooth SIG members representing the PC and mobile
phone industries collaborated on the development of these Implementation
Guides. Sponsored by the Bluetooth SIG, these manuals were created with
the needs of the end-user in mind, and to provide greater synthesis of
usability of Bluetooth functionality across manufacturer lines.
“Bluetooth wireless technology benefits corporations’ efficiency
and productivity by increasing the mobility of workers both in and out of
the office,” said Bluetooth SIG executive director, Mike McCamon. “It is
already a useful, convenient and powerful extension to the wired or
wireless infrastructure within a corporate enterprise. Our aim, through
initiatives like the developer’s contest and the implementation
guidelines, is to further foster the development of innovative wireless
applications which will interconnect us all – in whatever work ‘place’ we
find ourselves.”
About the Bluetooth SIG, Inc.
Bluetooth(R)
wireless technology is revolutionizing the personal connectivity market by
providing freedom from wired connections. It is a specification for a
small-form factor, low-cost radio solution providing links between mobile
computers, mobile phones and other portable handheld devices, and
connectivity to the Internet. The Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG),
comprised of leaders in the telecommunications, computing, and network
industries, is driving development of the technology and bringing it to
market. The Bluetooth SIG includes promoter group companies 3Com, Agere,
Ericsson, IBM, Intel, Microsoft, Motorola, Nokia and Toshiba, and
thousands of Associate and Adopter member companies. The Bluetooth SIG,
Inc. headquarters are located in Overland Park, Kansas, U.S.A. For more
information please visit www.bluetooth.com.
The Bluetooth word
mark and logo are registered trademarks and are owned by the Bluetooth
SIG, Inc.
Press Contacts:
Starr Million/Kari Hernandez
Porter Novelli for the Bluetooth SIG
512. 241.2236/ 512.241.2237
kari.Hernandez@porternovelli.com
starr.million@porternovelli.com
