Celebrating 25 years of Bluetooth: A story of Danish royalty and Onics’ CTO

What do you think of when you hear the word “Bluetooth”?

If you are in the technology sector like us, you are probably thinking of a short-range wireless technology standard used to exchange data between devices.

So are we. But for a Danish company like Onics, the word Bluetooth has more associations than just a technology. A royal one and a personal one.

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The man behind the blue tooth

As we celebrate the 25^th anniversary of Bluetooth technology this year, it is a perfect time to reflect on the incredible journey and origin of the world-renowned technology. A journey from a simple wireless communication concept to a global standard that has transformed the way we connect and communicate.

But what makes this technology special to us is the unique Danish connection that lies at the heart of Bluetooth’s history.

Did you know that Bluetooth technology is named after the Danish Viking king Harald “Bluetooth” Gormsson who united Denmark and Norway in the 10^th century?

King Harald “Bluetooth” was skilled at making connections in the Viking age, and as the aim with the wireless standard was to unite and connect devices from various manufacturers, the name Bluetooth was chosen.

This also explains Bluetooth’s logo which combines the old Norse letters for “H” and “B” – the initials of Harald “Bluetooth”.

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Onics CTO leading development of early Bluetooth chip

However, at Onics, our ties to Bluetooth go beyond being Danish.

In fact, Chief Technology Officer in Onics, Poul Møller Eriksen, played an important role in the early days of the technology’s creation.

Poul was employed by Digianswer, the vendor of the very first Bluetooth implementation. When Digianswer was aquired by Motorola, Poul was leading the development of the first Bluetooth chip from Motorola, the MC72000.

“And the rest is history”, as Poul Møller Eriksen says.

The technology has remained an essential wireless standard ever since, and today we continue to build on that legacy by offering our world-leading IoT platform with Bluetooth communication as part of our Squid.link gateways. You can learn more about our IoT platform here.

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Anniversary celebrations in the home of the Viking king

Celebrations of Bluetooth’s 25^th anniversary will take place on October 10 and 11 in the home of King Harald “Bluetooth”, Jelling in Denmark, from where he reigned.

Here, founding members of the Bluetooth technology will attend the celebrations where 25 years of technological history will unite with 1000 years old Viking history.