Wireless technology is finally making its way into meeting rooms and offices, and it’s about time. But before you go incorporating it into your office or meeting room, you need to know all the details. I mean, what good is going into a wireless meeting room if you have no idea what anything is or how it works?
Bluetooth and Wi-Fi
If you want to know about wireless technology then you have to know about Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. Bluetooth was developed by a Swedish phone company, Ericsson, and became an industry standard available to everybody.
Bluetooth products contain very small short-range radios that allow products like cell phones, printers, laptops and projectors to “talk” to each other without the need of wires. There is a 30-foot range on Bluetooth and it doesn’t draw a lot of power from your device.
Wi-Fi is also a radio technology. Wi-Fi is faster than Bluetooth and has a range of 75 feet to 150 feet in an office and up to 1000 feet in open areas. The only downside is that it requires a greater amount of power. Both of these technologies allow you to use any kind of technological device without the use of cables or wires.
Wireless Benefits
While both technologies are great and offer similar solutions, there are a lot if differences you should look at before implementing one or the other into your meeting room.
Bluetooth is great for cable replacement due to the small amount of power it consumes and the shorter range it has versus Wi-Fi. You don’t need any more cables for your mouse, printer, keyboard or other peripherals.
Wi-Fi is better for connecting large devices due, in part, to the longer range and the larger power consumption. In bigger devices, the larger power draw allows you to exchange data without a noticeable change in speed and users can be further away from the modem.
Price is also a factor. Bluetooth has been traditionally cheaper. It is expected that adding Bluetooth to your meeting room will only run you around an extra $10 per product whereas Wi-Fi would be about $35 per product.
Currently in production there are over 800 licensed Bluetooth solutions and over 500 Wi-Fi ones. Big name companies, like Intel, Microsoft and Toshiba, offer products that already have Wi-Fi or Bluetooth installed.
By slowly integrating wireless products into your meeting room, you can have the fastest, cleanest and most efficient meeting space in the entire company.
Source: Effective Meetings