By 2005, Bluetooth technology will cost businesses and consumers worldwide an additional $5.6 billion annually as a result of added support and usage costs necessary to use the technology, according to Gartner, Inc.

Security flaws and interoperability problems will make Bluetooth-enabled devices inadequate for use without additional spending to correct the problem areas, according to Gartner. By 2005, Gartner predicts that more than 560 million Bluetooth-enabled devices will be purchased by businesses and consumers.

"Bluetooth deployment costs will be higher than other wireless technologies because of limited interoperability and the need to implement policies to safeguard against data corruption and theft," said Bill Clark, research director for Gartner. "Although manufacturers must have products certified by Bluetooth prior to sale, the certification does not make high-level security and interoperability between products a requirement. Therefore, the user interfaces, default configurations and usability choices are left to the individual manufacturers' to decide upon."

According to Gartner, usability choices left to manufacturers' discretion will result in an increased cost of ownership of $70 per year for users of mobile phones, PDAs (personal digital assistants), and PCs.

"The current Bluetooth specifications and processes are too loose to guarantee that multiple products from multiple vendors will interoperate, which passes this burden on to businesses," said Clark. "An enterprise-grade solution that guarantees out-of-the-box interoperability is needed."

Gartner advises that businesses must take proactive measures to protect data stored on Bluetooth devices as it travels over Bluetooth links and other networks.

"Several of Bluetooth's security challenges are a result of Bluetooth specification having no policy for encryption of stored passwords," said Clark. "In addition, faulty implementations of core Bluetooth applications are ripe for security breaches such as eavesdropping of conversations and theft and destruction of data during Web surfing or synchronization of personal information manager."

Gartner analysts said businesses need to select vendors whose products have security activation and include additional safeguards, such as the use of combination passkeys and key length enforcement. IT buyers should also request security qualification reports for all Bluetooth devices and base purchasing and support decisions on them. Businesses should also educate employees regarding the proper configuration of Bluetooth-enabled devices and discourage the sharing of Bluetooth passkeys in public settings.

Problems associated with the Bluetooth software and certification will make interoperability difficult between devices made by different manufacturers. According to Gartner, more than 80 percent of Bluetooth products offered from 2002 to 2005 will be incapable of peer-to-peer networking interoperability.

"While current Bluetooth certification encourages innovation and competition between manufacturers, it also creates confusion for end users, especially when interoperability is assumed by most consumers to be a basic function of the device," said Clark.

Gartner advises vendors to publicly validate interoperability of whole classes of products and to revise the interoperability testing process to include profile testing and to further support this with rigid interoperability testing at higher application layers.