Just a few years ago, the term “network” referred to a mainframe in a back room connected to a series of dumb terminals. Today, the network is a worldwide array of computers connected to increasingly more intelligent clients ranging from personal computers to personal digital assistants (PDAs) to cell phones. Traditionally, these clients connect to the worldwide array over wire or some other physical medium, such as a cable or copper twisted pair. Wired connections provide reliable, high-speed information pipelines, but they tie clients to a location. Read the rest of this entry »

The Bluetooth wireless standard is coming into its own, and hundreds of millions of Bluetooth-enabled products will ship by the end of 2002. The Bluetooth technology will be self-contained within many products; for others, it will be an addition in the form of a PC Card that plugs into a mobile device or a dongle that plugs into a desktop system’s RS-232 or parallel-printer port. As Bluetooth becomes ubiquitous, you’ll find yourself having to test Bluetooth devices at the protocol-stack and RF levels. Read the rest of this entry »