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Bluetooth SIG hints at 2016 roadmap
Faster, further, and with mesh networking
Crackers and hackers will no longer need to get up close and personal with Bluetooth devices to launch attacks: the next iteration of the standard will get a fourfold increase in range.
The Bluetooth SIG is previewing a bunch of changes it plans for 2016, and it's drunk deeply from the Internet of Things Kool-Aid bottle.
Citing predictions that the IoT market will be worth between US$2 trillion and $11.5 trillion by 2025 – a handsome error bar if ever there was one – the SIG's canned statement says the technology will also get mesh networking and higher speeds.
The group says Bluetooth will get a speed doubling at the same power as the current spec.
Mesh networking will be particularly attractive, the SIG hopes, in home applications, letting devices pass on each others' messages so they stay connected even when they're on the move.
The speed-and-mesh combination, the group hopes, will also give the technology a bigger footprint in industrial and medical applications.
The SIG promises to reveal more detail in the near future, and says its developer tools and training programs will be updated to cover the upcoming specifications. ®
Biting the hand that feeds IT
