Kellogg on Technology and Innovation

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Applications of Location Technology Contd...

Moreover, this technology allows devices to communicate automatically with each other. However, with all the above advantages, Bluetooth is still not having the capability to become the general-purpose technology. Lets go through some of the issues, which are very important to Bluetooth and can be viewed as its opportunity or hindrance. * As special interest group has defined the common standard BT v1.1 for all products who wants Bluetooth backing in their products. But still discussions are on standardization. Past experiences with BT v1.1 designed products were not found good and many products failed on grounds of interoperability and application errors. * The frequency range which is currently used by Bluetooth is available free and very much common in use. It is expected that in future that as the number of Bluetooth devices grow the problems can arise in the frequency side. * Cost and size of its radio chips can be the negative points for Bluetooth.

* With the facility to support encryption as well as authentication, Bluetooth stands little ahead in terms of security. But according to analysts, there are still some security flaws that Bluetooth needs to take care of.

* Another major drawback for Bluetooth is not getting support from big software companies. Microsoft did not provide support to Bluetooth in its Windows XP launch even it has given support to Wi-Fi.

Wireless Applications: With the increased usage of wireless technologies in the past few years, more and more companies are using wireless applications to reduce costs of inventory as well as increase customer satisfactions level. While on the other side, the reach of wireless devices to the individuals have increased many folds and it is expected to increase further. As wireless has changed many faces of manufacturing, goods tracking, inventory status and customer inquiry details, lets examine its applications across horizontal and vertical application areas:

Horizontal Application Areas: Some companies are already working on wireless applications in horizontal application areas, which include knowledge management applications, communication services, mobile commerce, mobile tracking and other applications related to tracking and management. Let us go in details of each service:

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