HOT NEWS IN THIS REPORT:

1. Emerging technology: Bluetooth Wireless Communications
2. Search strategies: The Invisible Web
3. Cool tools: Lotus ScreenCam
4. Book review: Telecosm: How Infinite Bandwidth will Revolutionize Our World

Executive Technology Briefing (ETB)
Editor/Publisher: Jordan Ayan Contributing Editor: Chuck Frey

-- EMERGING TECHNOLOGY: BLUETOOTH WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS --

http://www.bluetooth.com

Bluetooth, a new wireless communications standard for computers, telephones and other handheld devices, is about to usher in a new era of wireless connectivity that will enable you to use and share your data in some powerful new ways.

Bluetooth technology uses shortwave radio frequencies to allow devices like laptop computers, cell phones, PDAs, cameras and printers to communicate with each other within a range of thirty feet -- eliminating the need for cables. In effect, if you are carrying a device equipped with this technology, it can create a wireless "personal area network" on the fly with other Bluetooth-enabled devices in your vicinity.

Some of the biggest manufacturers of computers, cell phones and handheld devices have agreed to support Bluetooth and are developing products that incorporate it, including 3COM, Ericsson, IBM, Intel, Lucent technologies, Microsoft, Motorola, Toshiba, Compaq and Dell. First-generation Bluetooth products are just starting to hit the market now, and transfer data at 1 MBps. Devices based on the second-generation standard, which will debut some time in 2001, will be able to communicate with each other at 2 MBps.

Research firm Allied Business Intelligence predicts that 56 million Bluetooth devices will be in use by the end of 2001, and 1.4 billion by 2005. Some of the exciting business applications that Bluetooth technology will soon make possible include:

* Synchronize files, databases, phone lists and appointments between all of your digital devices quickly and easily
* Printing documents without being connected to a printer
* Share documents, calendars and other media with co-workers in business meetings
* Access the Internet without using a cable
* Use your mobile phone to enable your laptop to connect to the Internet, send a fax or e-mail messages
* Talk hands-free through a handset, connected wirelessly to your mobile phone, mobile computer or handheld device
* Transfer photos from your digital camera to your computer, cell phones or other handheld device
* While meeting with a client in his office, wirelessly send a proposal document his printer

The first wireless devices based on the Bluetooth technology are just now starting to hit the marketplace:

* Ericsson recently introduced a Bluetooth-enabled wireless handset for its digital cellular phones
* Toshiba and IBM have announced a PC card that fits into the CompactFlash slot of their high-end notebooks
* Hewlett-Packard says that Bluetooth enabled printers should hit the market before mid-2001
* Microsoft plans to introduce a Bluetooth-enabled Pocket PC during the first or second quarter of 2001; Compaq will add similar functionality to its Pocket PC product by early next year
* Motorola is working with several auto manufacturers to integrate Bluetooth into cars, with embedded technology expected to arrive by mid 2001

STRATEGIC IMPLICATIONS

For many executives, Bluetooth will allow you to focus on your information, not on the hardware and software needed to move it from one device to another.

Bluetooth has the potential to revolutionize how small work teams and meetings function, by enabling executives to quickly and easily share files, media and documents with each other.

Bluetooth should also be a boon for mobile workers, who currently must carry cables on the with them share data between their laptops, PDAs and cell phones.

Bluetooth should also have many promising industrial applications, where performance and condition data needs to be captured from sensors and other devices for analysis (example: wirelessly transferring diagnostics data from your car's engine to test equipment - without cables).

CONSIDERATIONS

The first wave of Bluetooth-enabled products are mainly hardware add-ons, such as laptop interface cards. New products with support for Bluetooth embedded in them won't emerge until early to mid-2001.

As you might expect, Bluetooth isn't the only wireless communications standard vying for market dominance. IEEE's 802.11b wireless communication standard offers an 11 MBps data transfer rate, at a range of 100 to 400 meters - significantly better than Bluetooth on both counts. However, this wireless technology requires costly "access points" or hubs to transmit the data, at about $1000 each.

While these two wireless technologies appear to be competitive, their applications actually don't overlap much: Bluetooth is designed for peer-to-peer individual communications (creating a "personal area network"), 802.11b is better suited to offices, hotels and campuses - wireless local area network (LAN) applications where multiple users need to share Internet access, network file directories and printers.

It's clear that wireless personal communication is about to take off, in ways that infrared computer-to-computer communication never did. Because Bluetooth has the backing of many major computer, PDA and cell phone manufacturers, we predict that it will emerge as the dominant standard for this type of technology. And savvy businesses will be quick to adopt it to streamline teamwork, collaboration and data interchange.

Bluetooth is named for a Nordic king who in the 10th Century unified Denmark and Norway. We anticipate that Bluetooth technology will succeed in unifying a variety of computing and communications devices.

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-- SEARCH STRATEGIES: THE INVISIBLE WEB --

http://www.invisibleweb.com
http://gwis2.circ.gwu.edu/~gprice/direct.htm
http://info.intelliseek.com/prod/bullseye.htm

Have you ever been frustrated trying to use one of the major Web search engines to locate a key bit of business intelligence? That's because a growing amount of information on the Web isn't even indexed by Yahoo, Excite, Lycos and the other major Web search engines. Instead, these resources are part of the fast-growing "Invisible Web," so-called because it is made up of information stored in the databases -- which are inaccessible to the software spiders and crawlers that compile search engine indexes. In many cases, these "invisible" sites contain mountains of corporate and industry data that could be very useful in your competitive intelligence efforts.

Fortunately, savvy researchers have started to create meta-indexes the catalog thousands of these database-driven sites, including: * The Invisible Web - A directory of over 10,000 specialized databases on the Web
* Direct Search - Another leading gateway to specialized databases online, maintained by a university researcher
* Bullseye Pro 2 - a powerful software program that not only searches the major Web search engines simultaneously, but also hundreds of specialized directories and indexes.

Why is the invisible Web important? As Web technology improves, companies are increasingly moving toward database-driven pages that display dynamic information, which are NOT visible to Web search engines. This trend will make it even harder for search engines to be comprehensive Web indexes, especially of corporate and competitive data.

We recommend that you explore these "Invisible Web" resource directories to find out what information or sites may be valuable to your business planning efforts. Also, if a lot of the information on your Web site is pulled dynamically from databases, you should check its positioning in the major Web search engines, because it may be "invisible," too.

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-- COOL TOOLS: LOTUS SCREENCAM --

http://www.lotus.com

ScreenCam is a powerful, a simple software tool that lets you create, view and share "movies," recording every click, scroll and action on your computer's screen. You can also add text captions and voice annotation to your movies, and distribute them to your customers, colleagues and employees - and they don't even need to have ScreenCam installed to view them.

Strategic uses of this cool tool include: * Showing an audience a Web site, without the need for an Internet connection (I've used this many time in presentations where a phone line wasn't available or where older phone systems only allow slow Internet connections)
* Demonstrating new products
* Explaining complex processes or procedures
* Training new employees
* Troubleshooting software problems

Unlike other multimedia authoring software, which tends to have a very steep learning curve, ScreenCam allows almost anyone to create professional-looking presentations. Its simple, VCR-like controls make it easy for anyone to record a simple ScreenCam presentation. The cost of ScreenCam is $89.95 - I think it's a great investment!

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--BOOK REVIEW - TELECOSM -

George Guilder, is a leading digital thinker and visionary. His latest book, "Telecosm: How Infinite Bandwidth will Revolutionize Our World", belongs on the reading list of every executive who want to understand how rapidly expanding bandwidth will impact the future of business. In this book, George explains how the forces that are coming together in the bandwidth arena are causing a similar revolution to that experienced with microprocessors over the past 25 years. To order a copy, visit: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0684809303/createincA/

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That's all for now. I welcome your comments and feedback on the Executive Technology Briefing.

Jordan Ayan
President
Create-It! Inc.