LONDON— Executives in -- and analysts tracking --the wireless chip industry responded positively to news that the Wibree low power networking specification pioneered by Nokia is to be subsumed into the Bluetooth SIG.

The groups said earlier this week the work of integrating the low power technology within the existing Bluetooth specification has started and the first version of the specification is anticipated during the first quarter of 2008.

The semiconductor partners are also expected to sample initial silicon for low power, battery operated personal area network devices early next year.

Nokia started promoting the low power Bluetooth add-on last October with initial partners CSR plc, Broadcom Corp., Nordic Semiconductor AS, Epson, Suunto Oy and Taiyo Unden and has been finalizing the specification with these companies and ensuring interoperability as well as outlining user profiles.

Several companies have since joined the interoperability effort, importantly Bluetooth chip suppliers Texas Instruments and ST Microelectronics, as well as OEMs such as Casio and Logitech.

For example, Svenn-Tore Larsen, CEO of Nordic Semiconductor (Oslo, Norway), told EE Times Europe :"This is the best thing that could have happened, from both a technical and commercial point of view; really it is the best of both worlds."

Nordic has been involved in what is now to be known as Ultra Low Power Bluetooth from the beginning and expects to be the first company to be sampling a standalone version of the emerging standard. "Bluetooth is without doubt the best home for Wibree," added Larsen.

"This is turning out to be a huge opportunity for us and we will be sampling a single mode device later this year and expect volume production early 2008."

Larsen said Nordic will extend its current proprietary product offerings to include chips with embedded Wibree protocol stacks enabling product designers to focus on building innovative solutions based on Wibree, rather than trying to solve complex RF and protocol issues.

Eric Janson, senior VP for global sales at Bluetooth chip pioneer CSR (Cambridge, England) and the group most likely to be first out of the door with a combo chip, told us: "We really wanted this to happen. Clearly, as a standalone specification, Wibree had a drawback with many potential users seeing it as a Nokia driven technology. Being part of the Bluetooth SIG, with the IP coming under its umbrella, will hugely increase adoption of and confidence in the low power technology."

Fiona Thomson, senior analysts at IMS Reserarch (Wellingborough, England), who tracks wireless devices at the group, said: "A lot of work has gone into rewriting the Wibree specification; the Bluetooth SIG and Nokia anticipate the first version of the specification during the first half of 2008. Before now it has been almost impossible to forecast Wibree; however, IMS is confident that shipments of Wibree ICs will go from zero to tens of millions very quickly."

She added: "We expect to see shipments of Bluetooth-Wibree dual-mode ICs exceed 120 million units in 2011."