Survey predicts Bluetooth domination

According to research from Cambridge Consultants Ltd (CCL), over half of the key decision makers in the European telecoms industry believe Bluetooth technology will eventually dominate the short-range data transfer market in both the home and business markets.

Bluetooth, a short-distance radio technology, is designed to replace cables and infrared links and can reach distances of up to 10 metres. Products including Bluetooth are expected to go on sale later this year.

Findings from a survey of 37 senior executives reveal that 52 per cent of managing directors and chief technology officers from the European telecoms industry are expecting Bluetooth to emerge as the market leader in the workplace, and that 61 per cent of respondents expect the technology to become the dominant product in the home.

Of those surveyed, 77 per cent were confident that up to five Bluetooth products will appear in the average Western home by 2002.

Cambridge Silicon Radio (CSR), a Bluetooth chip design company, said it is one of the first to develop a single-chip Bluetooth device. Glen Collinson, founder of CSR, said: "We will start to see applications such as wireless headsets for mobile phones this year, with cordless computer peripherals by next year."

It has been suggested that the take-up of Bluetooth technology will be restricted by a lack of interoperability among manufacturers, but according to CCL these problems will be solved within the next two months.