Wireless offering from Toshiba

By MICHAEL FOREMAN

Mobile PC manufacturer Toshiba is the first company to start shipping a Bluetooth wireless networking system.

Toshiba's first Bluetooth offering is a $460 Type II PC card that can be fitted to any mobile PC with an appropriate slot, or a desktop PC using an external USB adaptor.

All Toshiba laptops launched from February will feature a Bluetooth antenna built into the lid, and the technology will be standard across all models by March.

Described by Toshiba as a cable replacement technology, Bluetooth transmits voice or data through the air at speeds of up to 1 Megabit/second, at ranges of up to 30 metres.

It can now be used to form an impromptu network of up to eight laptops, but future Bluetooth-enabled products will provide links to 3G cellphone networks, local area networks (LANs), wired telephones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), printers and digital cameras.

Bluetooth works with radio waves in the 2.4GHz band, and features built in encryption and frequency-hopping, changing the frequency 1600 times a second to prevent eavesdropping.

Toshiba is initially pitching Bluetooth as a boardroom and educational tool - the PC cards will come bundled with Toshiba's Spanworks software, which will enable a Microsoft Office PowerPoint presentation to be broadcast to other laptops, with or without the use of a projector.

According to Toshiba Spanworks will support all other Office applications within three months, and the company plans to launch its own wireless LCD projector next February.

Toshiba Australia and New Zealand marketing manager Mark Whittard said Toshiba had been a founding member of the original five-member Bluetooth consortium with Nokia, Ericsson, Intel, and IBM. The group had since swelled to 2000 associate companies, many of which could be expected to launch compatible products.

"Bluetooth is going to proliferate among many other applications, including some that are not information technology related," he said.

Mr Whittard said car manufacturer BMW was putting Bluetooth into its in-car computers, so service managers could run engine diagnostic programs without needing a physical link to the car.

Toshiba is also developing a Bluetooth router for the home market, known internally as Waikiki, that it plans to launch in February.

Waikiki will include dial up, ADSL or cable modems to provide wireless net access to laptops or other PCs, and could eventually allow devices such as printers or digital cameras to access the internet independently.

Mr Whittard said Bluetooth would complement rather than replace the more powerful 802.11b standard wireless local area network system.

Toshiba will launch an external 802.11b system next month, but the company is expected to eventually offer dual Bluetooth/802.11b capability as a built-in option on its notebooks.

This design has not been completed, but it is understood the antenna will display blue lights when the mobile is communicating by Bluetooth, and green if it is using 802.11b.