y is data networks of large telecommunications service pro- stretched: what we've defined as a PAN for replacing viders. Similarly, no commercial products based on low-rate cables is certainly evolving to replace higher rate HiperLAN have achieved significant distribution, and the cables and may be becoming a path to the universal home author is not aware of any products in current distribu- data/entertainment network that many companies have tion based on HiperLAN 2. It seems likely, particularly in already unsuccessfully sought to popularize. view of recent FCC decisions bringing U.S. regulations into compliance with European regulations, that 802.11a products will achieve sufficient economies of scale to 5.1.5.1 Bluetooth: Skip the danegeld, prevent the wide distribution of HiperLAN-based keep the dane products in most applications. Although HiperLAN provides superior quality-of-service controls to 802.11, The first WPAN effort to achieve major visibility was the many major vendors for the key quality of service-sen- Bluetooth Special Interest Group, initiated in 1998 by sitive service, video delivery, have transferred their Ericsson with support from Intel, IBM, Nokia, and attention to the ultrawideband (UWB) standardization Toshiba. The Bluetooth trademark is owned by Ericsson activities in the 802.15.3a, discussed in the next section. and licensed to users. Although the group clearly displayed more marketing savvy than all the IEEE working groups put together in its choice of a memorable 5.1.5 From LANs to PANs moniker-t name refers to Harald "Bluetooth" Blätand, king of Denmark from about AD 940 to 985-the sepa- WLANs are an attempt to provide a wireless extension of ration of this activity from the IEEE helped produce a computer network service. WPANs are intended for a standard that was not compatible in any way with 802.11 a somewhat different purpose and differ from their WLAN networks. Given the likelihood of collocated devices using cousins as a consequence. The basic purpose of a WPAN is the two sta