June 13, 2000 - Incisor, the Bluetooth Newsletter had an extensive article titled " IBM and Bluetooth - Big Blue lifts the veil on Bluetooth Contributions". In this article contributions of IBM Research Labs', PvC's, PSG's contributions to Bluetooth. (http://www.bluetooth.com/news/incisor/incisor_2000_june.asp) Contact: Mahmoud Naghshineh.

July 25,2000-CNet:IBM's New Tools Blend Linux With Bluetooth

By Stephanie Miles
IBM today released new tools that combine Linux with Bluetooth wireless technology, merging two of the hottest technologies in an effort to spur wireless networking.

IBM released Linux-based applications technology based on the Bluetooth specification. Bluetooth essentially allows portable devices, computers, and appliances to communicate and swap data via radio waves, doing away with wires and cables.

Although much delayed, the eventual arrival of Bluetooth products is expected to simplify home networking, which still usually requires some type of rewiring or complicated connection scheme. A number of companies, such as Sun Microsystems and Microsoft, as well as the major networking, consumer electronics and PC businesses, are vying for a piece of this market, which is expected to be huge.

IBM's Linux technology, dubbed the BlueDrekar middleware, was developed by its in-house research group and is available for free trial download on IBM's developer site.

"The BlueDrekar middleware provides the driver that is designed to be compliant with Bluetooth wireless technology," said Daniel Jue, manager of IBM's AlphaWorks division, which works to provide early versions of IBM technology to developers. "As a result, developers can concentrate on creating exciting new interactive applications for the wireless home or office."

Big Blue said it eventually will seek certification for its Linux tools from the Bluetooth standards body.

July 26,2000 - UPSIDE article, IBM toasts Linux, Bluetooth marriage

Open Season

by Sam Williams

IBM (IBM), the Linux community's primary Fortune 100 benefactor, has announced it will donate portions of its BlueDrekar protocol "stack" to the open source community in an effort to speed the marriage between Linux developers and the Bluetooth standard.

The source code, which will be released under the Gnu General Public License, governs portions of both the communications protocol and the device drivers that allow Linux-based devices to communicate via the low power, wireless Bluetooth standard.

The company will wait for the approval of the Bluetooth Consortium before undertaking a full open source release, says Daniel Jue, manager for IBM's AlphaWorks, the division responsible for developing the BlueDrekar code.

"Right now the development part is not open source," says Jue. "We're hoping to add a project to our DeveloperWorks site for people who build applications. They can submit their source code to the site, and DeveloperWorks will post it for the community to review."

An encouraging first step
Still, Jue sees even a limited open source effort as an encouraging first step. Backed by Scandinavian cell phone giants Ericsson (ERICY) and Nokia (NOK), along with Intel (INTC), IBM and Toshiba, Bluetooth allows mobile devices to create flexible and pervasive networks for the home and office.

Any device carrying the Bluetooth chip can interact with other Bluetooth devices, providing instant voice and data connections within 100 meter radius. This gives even the smallest handheld device the continuous connectivity of a cordless phone.

According to Cahners In-Stat Group, the number of Bluetooth-enabled devices is expected to reach 1 billion by 2005. For the moment, however, Bluetooth products have yet to reach market. A recent report by Cahners cites high research and development costs as a barrier to rollout.

BlueDrekar may eliminate these high R&D costs. "It's Linux, which is a pretty standard platform. It comes with all the APIs needed to hook your application into your network. It's also more open, which developers will like," says Jue.

IBM has already released similar technology for the Windows platform, but analysts such as Frank Dzubeck, president of Washington, D.C.-based Communications Network Architects, see Linux-based development as a smarter route.

"Application developers are moving to Linux primarily because it's so cheap," Dzubeck says. "It's true that embedded Linux has some problems with real time capability, but Bluetooth focuses on a market segment where real time performance isn't such a factor. [Linux] is going to capture quite a bit of the space."

As for IBM's involvement, Dzubeck calls it a "stimulation move" designed to pave the way for profitable follow-on software technologies such as MQ Lite, a proprietary protocol that guarantees online transactions.

Big Blue's unified open source philosophy
Although Dzubeck doesn't consider the donation as significant as other recent IBM moves -- such as the recent decision to support Linux on its highly profitable AS/400 mainframe platform -- he sees the two developments resulting from a unified philosophy. Pointing to the company's failure to secure broad enough developer support for the OS/2 operating system platform, Dzubeck says IBM is learning the value of donating strategic portions of its software infrastructure to the community as a whole.

"It's a good philosophy in its case," Dzubeck says. "What it's giving away in the case of [BlueDrekar] would have been just another ulcer if it came down to monitoring payments."

The BlueDrekar name keeps with the original Bluetooth project's Viking theme. The Bluetooth project gets its name from the 10th century king Harald Blaatand "Bluetooth" II, the first Christian king of Denmark. Drekar, meanwhile, was the name of the fast, dragon-shaped sailing vessels used by the Vikings during their periodic raids along the Northern European and Mediterranean coastlines.

Despite the warlike imagery, Jue has high hopes the open source developers will welcome the new technology into their already expanding community chest.

"We're especially hoping to get Linux developers," he says. "Linux is a convenient development platform for this technology."

Sam Williams is a freelance writer covering open source software and high-tech culture.