Nokia and the Bluetooth Special Interest Group have announced that the
low-power short range Wibree data transmission protocol developed by
Nokia has been selected as an extension to Bluetooth standards along
with the acquisition and merging of the WiBree Forum.
Wibree is intended to be easily integrated into the Bluetooth stack or
function as a standalone protocol, and its claimed ultra low battery
drain is meant as ideal for low power personal area networks while
expanding Bluetooth PAN options for smaller devices such as watches,
medical devices, access control systems, PC’s, and mobile phones.
Development of the standard began in 2001 by Nokia as a way to offer
low power wireless short range networking for its customers, and was
officially announced in 2006, while it is expected to be ratified
into the Bluetooth protocol in 2008 with no word on device releases.
