Silicon Valley startup Rappore Technologies (San Jose, CA) this week disclosed its initial product roadmap — a suite of comprehensive wireless networking software support for multiple operating systems and hardware platforms, spanning the full gamut from embedded devices, to infrastructure transport layers, to desktop/laptop PC connectivity.

The company's goal is simple to state, but will no doubt prove challenging to accomplish: to deliver reliable and secure software and services through which Bluetooth is seamlessly integrated with other wireless and wired networking technologies. In terms of specific products and technologies, the main focus will initially be on Bluetooth, Windows, and Embedded Linux.

Beginning in January, 2001, three products will be offered: an efficient, reliable and secure protocol stack compliant with the proposed Bluetooth 1.1 Specification; a Software Developer's Kit (SDK); and a Professional Services organization that offers wireless product development support.

• The Bluetooth protocol stack — Rappore Technologies' Bluetooth protocol stack will include modules for HCI, L2CAP, SDP, RFCOMM, Basic Security, Voice, TCS, OBEX, and a full-featured Stack Manager. The protocol stack supports a variety of existing applications such as dial-up-networking, other COM port-based applications, a hardware abstraction layer, and Host Control Interface Transport drivers for USB and UART. The stack will be highly portable across diverse hardware platforms and operating systems, as a result of being based on a modular, configurable architecture. In order to provide security levels that are compatible with existing enterprise network security frameworks, Rappore Technologies is enhancing Bluetooth's normal security by adding 802.1x-compliant network-level security.

• The Software Developers Kit — Complementing the Bluetooth protocol stack is a Software Developer's Kit (SDK) that contains functions that allow developers to write software that communicates, configures, manages, and controls any Bluetooth wireless device. Capabilities for debugging and testing are also included. The SDK features a code base that is extensible to many programming languages including C, C++, and Java as well as multiple hardware and software platforms. The use of an operating system abstraction layer minimizes porting time and effort.

• The Professional Services organization — Rappore Technologies' also offers Professional Services, based on a team of experienced networking and embedded consultants, to assist customers with integrating Bluetooth technology into products and solutions. Staff engineers provide OS support for Windows, Linux, EPOC, NOSs, and RTOSs, as well as with multiple processor types including Intel, ARM, Motorola, Hitachi, and others.

CEO William Hogan explains that his company initially planned to support Microsoft's operating systems for both desktop/laptop platforms (using Windows NT / 2000 / me) and for embedded devices (using Windows CE and NT-Embedded). But the company soon discovered that their customers' highest priority for embedded system support was, instead, Embedded Linux.

Accordingly, although desktop Windows continues to be essential to supporting the desktop/laptop PC end of things, Embedded Linux has become the company's top priority from the embedded perspective. Hogan anticipates that this latter category will include PDAs, portable office equipment, automotive computing, cellular phones, digital cameras, medical equipment, industrial automation products, or any other embedded application requiring Bluetooth radio connectivity.

Availability

Starting in January 2001, both the stack and SDK will be available running on the Intel x86 processors, and supporting Microsoft's Windows (desktop versions) and Lineo's Embedix Embedded Linux. Addition of support for other vendors' Embedded Linux, other processors (ARM7, Hitachi SH3/SH4, NEC VR Series, Motorola ColdFire,…), and other embedded OSes (VxWorks, QNX, LynxOS,…) will likely follow.

The stack and SDK will be bundled in a package that includes a zero-cost developer's license, a one-year support contract, and associated run-time royalties for deployed systems. Professional Services are available immediately.

“We want to help corporations transition from the wired world we're in now, to the emerging world of wireless connectivity, including bridging the wired with the wireless,” says Hogan.

Rappore is available on the web at www.rappore.com.

 
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