Imagine listening to streaming music via your Bluetooth® wireless technology headphones from your phone while cooking dinner. As you stir the pot, your smartwatch lets you know that your partner is calling. The music switches to a conversation about who is beating whose wearable fitness data. All these connections are courtesy of Bluetooth, which creates seamless, efficient, very low-power wireless connections.
Bluetooth technology can be found in an ever-increasing number of devices today. How many devices do you have?
- Phones. Tablets. Laptops. Check. Check. Check.
- Fitness and wearables. A growing number of us.
- Entertainment and gaming accessories. Yep.
- Cameras. You betcha.
- Car. Hands-free is the law, after all.
- Health monitors. That too, check.
The entire Bluetooth ecosystem is rapidly expanding. Analysts expect that over 4 billion Bluetooth-enabled products will ship in 2018 – bringing the total Bluetooth installed base to more than 10 billion products (ABI research, Jul. ’14). It is emerging as an essential solution for making everyday objects part of the Internet of Everything (IoE).
It’s just so easy. Bluetooth was one of the earliest and remains one of the simplest ways to connect and wirelessly exchange data over short distances and among many types of devices.
To use Bluetooth wireless technology, a device has to be able to interpret certain Bluetooth profiles, which define the possible applications and specify general behaviors that Bluetooth enabled devices use to communicate with one another.
The original Bluetooth profiles enabled a wireless interconnect among small mobile devices and peripherals (phones, computers, PDAs). But now that Bluetooth technology is embedded in a variety of fixed and mobile devices that we use every day, we need a protocol stack that is smaller, faster and more efficient to enable connectivity via Bluetooth.
Bluetooth and the Internet of Everything
Last month, we expanded our Bluetooth portfolio with the acquisition of Stonestreet One, LLC – a leading provider of Bluetooth – and its Bluetopia™ product line. The Bluetopia software stack provides embedded connectivity for such devices as watches, fitness bands, cameras, stereo audio, 3D glasses, industrial PDAs, barcode scanners, and more.
Now Qualcomm Atheros, Inc., a subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated, offers a comprehensive portfolio of Bluetooth solutions to address the full IoE ecosystem. This is a natural progression to ensure the connections among SmartHomes, fitness, entertainment, and other devices are as simple, easy and advanced as they are between your smartphone, tablet, and router. Plus, Bluetooth cooperates with Wi-Fi® from Qualcomm Atheros to ensure excellent interoperability when both wireless technologies are being used at the same time – which happens all the time.
Connecting people, devices … everything within the home, office and on the run
Both Qualcomm Atheros and Stonestreet One are pioneers in Bluetooth solutions that meet the needs of many different platforms. Bluetopia has already been deployed by many product manufacturers around the world and is currently shipping in millions of enterprise and consumer devices on the market today.
By marrying the Bluetopia product portfolio with our own, we are delivering on our commitment to provide best-in-class Bluetooth solutions for the Internet of Everything ecosystem. With a strong base in mobile and consumer electronics, superb talent and proven Bluetooth technology under one roof, we are more completely enabling the devices you use every day with a flexible connectivity solution.
The Bluetooth® word mark and logos are registered trademarks owned by Bluetooth SIG, Inc. and any use of such marks by Qualcomm Atheros is under license. Other trademarks and trade names are those of their respective owners.
The post Bluetooth: Truly Simple Connectivity, Expanded appeared first on Qualcomm Atheros, Inc..
