Updated: Wibree backers join Bluetooth group

Updates for Zigbee and ultrawideband
"The development work for Wibree began when we discovered a series of interesting new usage scenarios that no current local connectivity solution was addressing," said Jarkko Sairanen, vice president of corporate strategy for Nokia in a prepared statement.

"Now we are happy to see Wibree become part of the open Bluetooth standard, opening new market opportunities and space to innovate for the industry," he added. Wibree's development started at the Nokia Research Center in 2001. Wibree was publicly announced in October of 2006

The unification will not substantially change the relative positioning of Bluetooth and Zigbee.

"There is some overlap, but we are aiming to enable devices for a wireless PAN, and Zigbee is more about mesh networking in a building," said Foley. "We are not looking at meshes or the power requirements to take on relays. We are sticking with a star topology," he added.

Separately, the Bluetooth SIG is waiting for prototype ultrawideband radios at 6 GHz to complete its work on a spec for Bluetooth over ultrawideband. The group expects to see its first samples of 6 GHz UWB radios before the end of the year. That would enable it to finish its spec by this time next year.

The SIG opted to skip the UWB Band Group 1 silicon operating at 3-4 GHz coming out now. That's because some planned 4G cellular offerings will occupy that spectrum, and cellphone makers were concerned about interference.

In the short term, the SIG is about to roll out its version 2.1 update with a number of adds. The chief addition is a simpler method for "pairing," the initial secure configuration of two Bluetooth devices so they can work together. Users have complained that the initial configuration process for Bluetooth devices has been too complicated.

—Loring Wirbel contributed to this report.