Back in the late nineties, it seemed everyone was talking about about a new wireless technology with a funny name.

“It’s the name of a medieval King of Denmark!” some would write, but soon it became apparent that it wasn’t the name that made Bluetooth interesting.  Instead, it was how the new short range, low power technology enabled new uses for wireless that others like 802.11b (later to be called Wi-Fi) and DECT (cordless phone technology) couldn’t that created real excitement for many in the technology industry.

The first wave of these new use cases for Bluetooth embraced by both manufacturers and consumers were for what the industry called  the Personal Area Network (or PAN), which was a fancy way of saying ‘cable replacement’.  While the term PAN (thankfully) never really caught on, Bluetooth sure did, and soon loud-talking forty-something business travelers everywhere were walking through airport concourses shouting into their Bluetooth headsets. Then came the invasion of Bluetooth peripherals like keyboards and mice, and soon Bluetooth enabled cars would make many of us look like we were talking to ourselves. A little later, Bluetooth enabled music streaming created an entire new industry around portable mobile speakers and 

Smart Is Sexy

While Bluetooth adoption exploded over the next decade, it would eventually plateau. This led the Bluetooth Special Internet Group to look beyond the technology’s original mission towards the Internet of Things. New use cases in residential, industrial, healthcare and retail environments called for persistent, low power connections that could run on coin-size batteries for years, which led the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) to develop Bluetooth LowEnergy, which they later branded Bluetooth Smart.

Bluetooth Smart soon made Bluetooth sexy again. The technology, which was built upon a fundamentally new set of technology enabled a new wave of innovation in wearables, smart home, and the broader Internet of Things.  Products like locks and lighting soon were connected to our phones and the cloud using Bluetooth Smart, while retailers have begun to use Bluetooth Smart in retail to enable location based  notifications as consumers walk through the store.

Bluetooth Mesh Arrives

As Bluetooth Smart has injected new life into Bluetooth, many have began to see the technology, with its low power and pervasiveness, as one that could be one of the – if not the – dominant radio interface for the Internet of Things. There was only one problem with this vision, however: the technology was still fairly limited in range relative to others like Wi-Fi and didn’t have the mesh networking capabilities (which essentially extends range of a network by making every radio a range extender) like Zigbee and Z-Wave.

Soon the industry began to call for mesh networking within the Bluetooth spec. While companies like CSR (acquired recently by Qualcomm QCOM +0.48%) created their own proprietary mesh technology, many believe the broader industry would only embrace Bluetooth mesh once it was part of the specification.

And so the same group that saw an opportunity to give new life to Bluetooth with Bluetooth Smart announced this week they had created the Bluetooth 

And so the same group that saw an opportunity to give new life to Bluetooth with Bluetooth Smart announced this week they had created the Bluetooth Mesh working group.  The goal of the Bluetooth SIG is to make mesh networking an extension of Bluetooth Smart by 2016.

I visited the Bluetooth SIG yesterday in Kirkland, Washington and they were, understandably, very excited about the news. The group, which included Bluetooth Executive Director Mark Powell, Marketing Director Errett Kroeter and Director of Developer Relations Steve Hegenderfer, told me they believe that Bluetooth mesh, combined with Bluetooth beacons (technology that creates location awareness and enables proximity-contextual applications like that being used by Tesco in the UK) will create another wave of interest in Bluetooth much like Bluetooth Smart has over the past few years.

I think they’re generally right. The interest in Bluetooth in sky high among manufacturers of everything from light bulbs to health monitors to cars, and by adding it to the specification they are giving the community just what they are looking 

everything from light bulbs to health monitors to cars, and by adding it to the specification they are giving the community just what they are looking for. The new mesh working group is the largest working group within the Bluetooth SIG outside of the core spec, a sign of just how much interest there is in the technology.

Now they just have to deliver the tech and let manufacturers make interesting products. Now that I’m one of those forty-somethings, I’m hoping for a mesh connected Bluetooth headset.

Michael Wolf is a smart home analyst for NextMarket and host of the Smart Home Show. Keep up to date with the smart home with his Smart Home Weekly and byfollowing him on Twitter.