Bluetooth and Wibree get connected

News

Tim Green Jun 13 2007, 10:15am

The Bluetooth Special Interest Group has merged with the Nokia-backed Wibree forum to jointly develop short-range wireless communications.

While Bluetooth is well-established, Wibree only emerged last October as an ultra low power local connectivity technology. With this announcement, the Wibree spec will become part of the Bluetooth spec as a low power Bluetooth technology. Because Wibree addresses devices with very low battery capacity, the aim is to round out Bluetooth’s Personal Area Networking (PAN) offering and strengthen its reach across the device range.

Michael Foley, executive director of the Bluetooth SIG, said: "Our members have been asking for an ultra low power Bluetooth solution. With Nokia's innovative development and contribution to the Bluetooth specification with Wibree, we will be able to deliver this in approximately one year."