PicoConnect™ and PicoSync™ Overview 20085 Stevens Creek Blvd, Suite 100 Cupertino, California, USA 95014 Tel: 408.366.9888 Fax: 408.366.9886 Web: www.pico.net Bluetooth Networking -Taking Handheld Computing to the Next Level Bluetooth™ wireless technology is taking handheld computing devices to the next level – wireless networking anytime anyplace. With Bluetooth enabled handhelds users will be able to easily connect to the Internet and gains access to their email (whether it is POP3 or behind the firewall corporate email), browse the web, and stay connected with instant messaging. And users will be able to connect to their corporate LANs gaining access to the intranet, corporate databases, database synchronization, and desktop synchronization for PIM data and documents. Bluetooth wireless technology will power new usage models for the handheld giving the users unprecedented flexibility and connectivity options for truly anytime anyplace networking such as: • Handheld-to-handheld collaboration for personal area networking (WPAN) • Handheld-to-LAN access point connectivity for local area networking (WLAN) • Handheld-to-cellular phone communications for wide area networking (WWAN) Only Bluetooth wireless technology on the handheld can provide all of these networking options. And it is due to the inherent advantages of Bluetooth. First and foremost, because of the frequency hopping nature of Bluetooth networking, there is no frequency planning required allowing a user to network anytime anyplace. Next comes into play is form factor. Anytime anyplace networking only works when the handheld is easy to carry around. Bluetooth chip sets are small enough to fit on SD and CF cards, and are already embedded in cell phones and some handhelds. And for anytime anyplace networking long battery life is a prerequisite. Bluetooth enabled handhelds are providing battery life that last anywhere from 50% to 300% longer than other wireless technologies. And last but not least is speed. Handhelds by their nature are considered low bandwidth devices because of limited memory, CPU horsepower, screen size, and graphics capabilities. Bluetooth wireless technology, at over 600 kbps, is fast enough for the most demanding applications written for the handheld. With handheld wireless networking coming into its own, and Bluetooth being the ideal technology, the question is how to make Bluetooth networking easy to use. Users are not going to want do a manual discovery process every time (like in personal area networking where the user chooses who to network with) when they want to get on the local area network. It would be like asking a cellular phone user to first discover all of the cell towers in range, pick one, try and connect to it, if it is busy try the next one and so on until your are connected. The cellular user just hits the “send” button and he or she is connected. He or she does not care how he or she got connected; he or she just got connected. The ideal Bluetooth local area networking usage model would be where the user would require no Bluetooth knowledge. With Bluetooth access points providing complete coverage throughout the enterprise, a user is not going to keep track of where they are or how many are out there. If multiple access points are in range the user is going to want to be connected to the access point that provides the most bandwidth. And if there PicoConnect™ and PicoSync™ Overview 20085 Stevens Creek Blvd, Suite 100 Cupertino, California, USA 95014 Tel: 408.366.9888 Fax: 408.366.9886 Web: www.pico.net are no access points in range, the user then would ideally want to then communicate via his or her cellular phone. So when a user wants access to the local area network, he or she wants to be connected to the best access point available automatically. One solution already exists for ideal Bluetooth networking on the Palm™ handhelds. PicoConnect™ and PicoSync™ are client solutions that reside on Palm handhelds providing "one-tap" access to the Internet and desktop or database synchronization. No Bluetooth knowledge is required. When launching a web clipping from a users Palm handheld, PicoConnect will automatically find all PicoBlue™ Bluetooth Internet Access Points in range, select the optimal one, and then launch the web site, all in a matter of a few seconds. If there are no PicoBlue access points in range, the user is connected to his or her cell phone. Once connected, PicoConnect will let you know when you step out of range and prompt you, asking if you want to reconnect or reconnect automatically. Answering yes to either question allows one to be reconnected to any other PicoBlue Internet Access Point that the user may have walked into range of its coverage area. When the user asks for automatic reconnection, the user can now freely roam through out a facility staying connected automatically to the network. PicoSync is a special version of PicoConnect that launches network HotSync® on the Palm handheld; synchronizing with the desktop regardless of its location (as long as it is on and connected to the network and you know its IP address). Any documents or databases that use the HotSync manager will also be synchronized with "one-tap" of the PicoSync icon. PicoBlue Internet Access Points are optimized for enterprise applications. PicoBlue features a 100-meter range in open areas and a 30-meter range in a typical office environment. Seven users at a time can connect to PicoBlue. IT managers can implement 128-bit Bluetooth encryption and/or RADIUS AAA functions for authentication, authorization and accounting. TACACS+ can be used on Cisco networks. For additional security, only people with registered Bluetooth devices can gain access with Bluetooth Address filtering. SNMP and CDP are available for remote centralized network monitoring of the access points. You can learn more about PicoBlue Internet Access Points from Pico Communications at www.pico.net and can download PicoConnect and PicoSync software for the Palm Bluetooth handhelds for free. Only users with Bluetooth enabled handhelds are able to do personal, local and wide area networking making Bluetooth wireless technology the ideal wireless networking standard for handheld computers. And with simple "one-tap" connections for network access from Pico Communications, Bluetooth networking on handhelds will truly allow users to easily stay wirelessly connected anytime anyplace.