SSL's technology is at the forefront of a global initiative to develop an industry standard in wireless communication. The Bluetooth programme has been devised by industry leaders Ericsson, IBM, Intel, Nokia and Toshiba to develop wireless connectivity between mobile devices.

SSL is contributing its radio frequency and mixed signal design expertise, and has matched its technology with a number of the specifications set down by the Bluetooth programme. SSL has now developed a basic architecture for the standard, and is in the process of selling the blueprint design. The new technology allows users to connect a wide range of devices easily and quickly, without the need for cables. This greatly expands the communications capabilities for a range of mobile products. The mobile phone is currently the fastest growing consumer appliance. With sales increasing by about 70 per cent annually, there will be about 120 million mobile phones sold this year. From being solely communications tools, they are rapidly becoming computing devices and are opening up major commercial opportunities for chip designers.

SSL now sees home networks as the biggest growth area for the future, where intelligent devices will be able to communicate with each other and perform functions automatically. One example is a living room system designed to automatically draw the curtains and switch on the lights each evening when the heating comes on.

According to Mr Kevin Fielding, chief operations officer with SSL, the company's silicon designs have come the closest to matching Bluetooth's design requirements, and more importantly, the optimum development costs.