SSS Online NEWS

Number 2 -- May 25, 1998

Whats New at SSS and in the World of SS, RF and Wireless

[SSS Online Buzzes with Activity]

[What is BlueTooth?]

[Wireless LANS and Things]

[SSS Online NEWS -- Issue #1]

SSS is proud to bring you our Second SSS NEWS Page!

SSS Online Buzzes with Activity

Our Online Store is now Open!

There have been plenty of changes here at SSS Online in the last month. We are continuing to try to improve our "look and feel" and simplifiy your navigation around our site. We also are deeply involved with a nearly complete re-vamp of our online advertising.

Our earlier "deal" with EDTN to "broker" online advertising for us did not work out quite as well as planned. It seems that they had a major personnel change near the top of their WEB advertising group that caused a lot of ripples! Suffice it to say we are re-examining our working relationship and are in the process of pulling down their ads from most pages of our magazine.

Other things going on here include the continual addition of new content and new / updated links to our pages. Last month alone we removed over 400 out-dated or useless links from our site. Linkbot 3.0 is a great help in this activity, by the way! In the content area, we restored several earlier HTML pages that are linked within our pages, that somehow, inadvertantly had gotten deleted.

SSS has recently opened our online store. This "store" features several interesting and useful "products." At this store you can purchase our "SSS Online CD ROM," buy small amounts of RF/SS' consulting time and charge your online SSS advertising. Please see our SSS Online Store Page for more information.

The accomplishment of this Online purchasing ability and the ability to take credit cards online, has been one of of our goals for a long, long time. We have mentioned here several times that we wanted to be able to offer our consulting services for credit card sale, so that many of you could take advantage of our expertize and experience with a quick and easy, purchase order-less (and without any messy contracts) -- now you can!

Spread Spectrum Scene Online magazine will continue to add features and interesting / useful articles on our high tech subject area for your viewing pleasure. We will also continue to add free software and FTP files that are noteworthy and useful to a majority of our audience. If you have any suggestions, criticisms or compaints, please don't hesitate to send us an email (contact us here) or leave a Comment if you would like to share your thoughts, suggestions or ideas with us on how to improve SSS Online and thus serve you better!

Industry leaders Ericsson, IBM, Intel, Nokia and Toshiba today unveiled their vision to revolutionise wireless connectivity for personal and business mobile devices. Enabling seamless voice and data transmission via wireless, short-range radio, this new technology will allow users to connect a wide range of devices easily and quickly, without the need for cables, expanding communications capabilities for mobile computers, mobile phones and other mobile devices.

The open specification for this innovative technology, is code-named "Bluetooth." It is being developed through the combined contributions of the members of the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG). The SIG was formed in early 1998 as a result of the global commitment of the five founding companies.

By working together closely, the five companies have combined their individual specialist expertise to create "Bluetooth." Ericsson contributed the basic radio technology expertise; Toshiba and IBM are developing a common specification for integrating "Bluetooth" technology into mobile devices; Intel is contributing its advanced chip and software expertise and Nokia, contributes expertise in radio technology and mobile handset software.

Other companies are being invited to support the core technology on a royalty-free basis to ensure that "Bluetooth" can be implemented in many different devices. Companies who have joined the Bluetooth program and committed to include the technology in products include Motorola, Qualcomm, 3COM Palm, VLSI and Lucent (see appendix I for additional company names).

"Bluetooth" utilises a short-range radio link to exchange information, enabling effortless wireless connectivity between mobile phones, mobile PCs, handheld computers and other peripherals. The radio will operate on the globally available 2.45GHz ISM, allowing international travellers to use "Bluetooth" -enabled equipment worldwide. The new initiative is modelled after other successful industry standards such as PCI and AGP to deliver products that interoperate.

"Bluetooth" benefits

"Bluetooth" will eliminate the need for business travellers to purchase or carry numerous, often proprietary cables by allowing multiple devices to communicate with each other through a single port. Enabled devices will not need to remain within line-of-sight, and can maintain an uninterrupted connection when in motion, or even when placed in a pocket or briefcase.

"Bluetooth" technology will offer new ways in which a user can use personal mobile devices, both for professional and personal use:

Users will be alerted to, and can respond to, incoming e-mail via their mobile phone, even while their mobile PC remains in its carrying case. When the PC receives an e-mail message, an alert will sound on the mobile phone. It is then possible to browse incoming e-mails immediately, reading the contents on the display of the mobile phone. Users will be able to access the Internet via a completely wireless connection routed either through a mobile phone, or a wired connection such as the PSTN, an ISDN line, or LAN. Users will be able to send an 'instant postcard' by cordlessly connecting a camera to a mobile phone or any wire-bound connection. Users could add comments to their snapshots using a mobile phone or mobile PC, and send them instantly to recipients anywhere in the world.

Industry Adoption

"Bluetooth" technology adoption is expected to be widespread throughout the computer and telecommunications industry. The move to implement "Bluetooth" is expected to grow the market for personal mobile devices.

Manufacturers will additionally benefit from the ability to replace multiple connection ports with a single "Bluetooth" port, gaining potential economies at production level. The group has defined favourable adoption terms, including royalty-free availability of the specification.

To promote open access to the "Bluetooth" concept and communicate news about its development in the future, the SIG today launched a website at: www.bluetooth.com

Bluetooth Technology Highlights

• Based upon a small, high performance integrated radio transceiver, each of which is allocated a unique 48-bit address derived from the IEEE 802 standard.
• Operate in the unrestricted 2.45GHz ISM 'free band', which is available globally although slight variation of location and width of band apply
• Range set at 10m to optimize for target market of mobile and business user
• Gross data rate 1Mbit/s, with second generation plans to increase to 2 Mbit/s
• One-to-one connections allow maximum data transfer rate of 721 kbits/s (3 voice channels)
• Uses packet switching protocol based on frequency hop scheme with 1600 hops/s to enable high performance in noisy radio environments. The entire available frequency spectrum is used with 79 hops of 1Mhz bandwidth, analogous to the IEEE 802.11 standard
• Low power consumption drawing only 0.3mA in standby mode enables maximum performance longevity for battery powered devices. During data transfer the maximum current drain is 30mA. However during pauses or at lower data rates the drain will be lower

Technical Specifications

SSS Online Comments and Thoughts / Suggestions

Well these "Big Guys" have finally done it -- they actually came up with a VERY GOOD IDEA!

I think this concept and the level of detailed thought put into it will result in a WINNER!

I sincerely wish this group Good Luck and I look forward to joining your SIG and contributing in any way we can to your success!

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