The Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) today is releasing a three-year road map for Bluetooth short-range wireless technology that includes a tripling of bandwidth and the ability to multicast signals to seven other users. Multicasting would allow easier communications between groups involved in tasks such as multiplayer gaming.
Under the road map, the SIG plans to complete the Bluetooth Version 2.0+EDR (Enhanced Data Rate) specification by the end of this year, increasing the data rate to 3Mbit/sec., up from 1Mbit/sec. in the current Version 1.2. Products are expected to appear with the EDR as early as June 2005. The newer-version products will also be backward-compatible with older versions.
For 2005, a core software specification update will be completed in the first quarter of 2005, with a prototype complete in the fourth quarter of 2005. That update will focus on security, quality of service and power optimization to improve things such as streaming applications and privacy enhancements. Another core software specification update is expected to be completed by the end of 2005, with prototypes built by the fourth quarter of 2006. This update will include a major innovation allowing a person using a Bluetooth device to multicast to seven other devices at once. Currently, Bluetooth devices can communicate only one to one.
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