Bluetooth SIG Plans to Release Bluetooth 10x and 100x Specification by Mid of 2009

Not long after the finalization of USB 3.0 specification followed by Express Card 2.0 that aims to boost up transmission speed of device communication, now seems that the Bluetooth SIG (Special Interst Group) has also shown interest upgrade its famous Bluetooth standards to next high level. Named as Bluetooth 10x and Bluetooth 100x, it is expected to scale up its transmission rate by 10x and 100x respectively as compared to existing Bluetooth 2.0.

Currently Bluetooth 2.0 is capable to transfer up to 3Mbps which is suitable for low bandwidth wireless communication. When it is able to boost its transmission rate up to 30Mbps (for Bluetooth 10x) or more, the usability could be extended to media streaming as part of WLAN in digital home. However, 100x standard may need to couple with UWB (Ultra Wide Band) wireless technology in order to cater for higher throughput requirement. Just imagine, 300Mbps is almost equivalent to USB 2.0 Host speed at 480Mbps but yet it doesn’t require any hard wire that is flavored by most users due to its flexibility and convenience in setting up.

No word on the communication radius as well as power transmission, but it should be remained focus on short distance with relatively low power for PAN (Personal Area Network) usage. Anyway, more details are still being worked out before it is officially available by mid of 2009.