December 14, 1999 Web posted at: 10:49 a.m. EST (1549 GMT) by Nancy Weil

From...

(IDG) -- STMicroelectronics NV and the mobile communications division of Ericsson last week said they would jointly develop highly integrated chips for Bluetooth products that will be based on Ericsson's Bluetooth core architecture.

The deal, for which financial details were not provided, will push the adoption of products that use Bluetooth, the companies said. Bluetooth is a wireless standard that lets multiple devices communicate using low-level radio frequencies. Ericsson is a founding member of the Bluetooth Special Interest Group, which now includes more than 1,200 vendors.

	MESSAGE BOARD
Hardware Innovation

Bluetooth interoperability testing was going on last week in Los Angeles, and products using the standard are expected to be released next year.

MORE COMPUTING INTELLIGENCE

IDG.net home page

Network World Fusion home page

Free Network World Fusion newsletters

Industry leaders join Bluetooth wireless effort, 12/1/99

Comdex: Acer, Widcomm team on Bluetooth devices, 11/17/99

Reviews & in-depth info at IDG.net

E-BusinessWorld

Year 2000 World

Questions about computers? Let IDG.net's editors help you

Subscribe to IDG.net's free daily newsletter for network experts

Search IDG.net in 12 languages

Samples of chips produced by the STMicroelectronics and Ericsson partnership will be available in the middle of next year, says Carol Brown, a spokeswoman for STMicroelectronics. The chip architecture will be used in PCs, personal digital assistants (PDA), cellular phones and "in any [products] that require local, wireless communication," Brown says.

Precisely when products make it to market using the codeveloped chip will depend on equipment manufacturers and on how quickly the Bluetooth market develops in general. Prices for Bluetooth products are expected to mirror current pricing for the products in question, ranging from a few hundred dollars for PDAs up to thousands of dollars for PCs. Although an exact price range can't be known until the products are ready for market, Brown says, "they will be competitive."

The deal with Ericsson was particularly appealing because "they are the inventor [of Bluetooth]. They're the most advanced," Brown says.

Ericsson design teams in Sweden, the Netherlands and the U.K. will work on the project with STMicroelectronics teams in France and Italy, she says.