Bluetooth Has A Lot To Offer With An Increasinglydifficult Market Place. Bluetooth Helps To Bringwith It The Promise Of Freedom From The Cables Andsimplicity In Networking That Has Yet To Be Matchedby LAN (Local Area Network).In The Key Marketplace, Of Wireless And Handhelddevices, The Closest Competitor To Bluetooth Isinfrared. Infrared Holds Many Key Features, Although The Line Of Sight It Provides Doesn't Gothrough Walls Or Through Obstacles Like That Of TheBluetooth Technology.Unlike Infrared, Bluetooth Isn't A Line Of Sight Andit Provides Ranges Of Up To 100 Meters. Bluetoothis Also Low Power And Low Processing With An Overhead Protocol. What This Means, Is That It's Ideal For Integration Into Small Battery Powereddevices. To Put It Short, The Applications WithBluetooth Are Virtually Endless. DisadvantagesBluetooth Has Several Positive Features And Onewould Be Extremely Hard Pressed To Find Downsideswhen Given The Current Competition. The Only Realdownsides Are The Data Rate And Security. Infraredcan Have Data Rates Of Up To 4 MBps, Which Providesvery Fast Rates For Data Transfer, While Bluetoothonly Offers 1 MBps.For This Very Reason, Infrared Has Yet To Be Dispensed With Completely And Is Considered Bymany To Be The Complimentary Technology To Thatof Bluetooth. Infrared Has Inherent Security Dueto Its Line Of Sight. The Greater Range And Radio Frequency (RF) Of Bluetooth Make It Much More Open To Interception Andattack. For This Reason, Security Is A Very Keyaspect To The Bluetooth Specification.Although There Are Very Few Disadvantages, Bluetoothstill Remains The Best For Short Range Wirelesstechnology. Those Who Have Tried It Love It, Andthey Know For A Fact That Bluetooth Will Bearound For Years To Come.(word Count 295)PPPPP
