Bluetooth technology now supports mesh networking

“By adding support for mesh networking, the Bluetooth member community is continuing a long history of focused innovation to help new, up-and-coming markets flourish,” said Mark Powell, Executive Director for Bluetooth SIG. “In the same way the connected device market experienced rapid growth after the introduction of Bluetooth Low Energy, we believe Bluetooth mesh networking can play a vital role in helping early stage markets, such as building automation and wireless sensor networks, experience more rapid growth.”

Commercial building and factory automation represent major market opportunities for wireless mesh networking technologies. These markets demand true industrial-grade solutions, which Bluetooth mesh delivers.

• Reliability: Enables inherently self-healing networks with no single points of failure
• Scalability: Supports thousands of nodes with industrial-level performance
• Security: Provides industrial-grade security for protection against all known attacks.

Time and time again it has been shown that markets flourish when multi-vendor interoperability exists. Bluetooth mesh delivers global interoperability that assures products from different vendors work together.

• Full-stack solution: A full-stack approach that defines the low-level radio up to the high-level application layer, ensuring all aspects of the technology are fully specified
• Interop-centric specification: Comprehensive, multi-vender interoperability testing is conducted during the specification development process, not after specification release
• Time-tested tools and processes: A 20 year history of delivering the qualification tools and processes needed to ensure global, multi-vendor interoperability.

“Multi-vendor interoperability is a major factor in determining how fast markets develop,” said Russ Sharer, Vice President Global Marketing and Business Development, Fulham. “Fulham is excited to finally see a wireless, multi-vendor, interoperable standard for lighting controls and we believe Bluetooth mesh networking will greatly expand the size and functionality of the market.”

Selection of a mesh networking technology is a critical decision for any developer, and it is a make or break factor in the success of a solution. By selecting Bluetooth technology, developers can deliver richer solutions with a faster time to market.

• Value-added services: A mesh network built using Bluetooth technology can support additional services, such as asset tracking and way finding
• A mature ecosystem: The Bluetooth ecosystem provides the best enabling technology, along with the tools and services that shrink the time to market
• Global brand awareness: Bluetooth is a trusted global brand that stands for simple, secure wireless connectivity.

“Within the building automation market, there is a growing focus on connected lighting and the role it can play as a platform for providing automation services throughout a facility,” said Szymon Slupik, President and CTO of Silvair and Chairman of the mesh working group within the Bluetooth SIG. “A smart lighting platform built on top of Bluetooth mesh networking can also support asset tracking, point of interest, and way-finding services. These value-added capabilities are part of why we believe Bluetooth is an ideal technology for enabling a mesh network.”