The group, which made their announcement on May 14, comprises: Grundig AG of Germany; Philips Electronics NV of the
Netherlands; Thomson Multimedia SA of France; and Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd., Hitachi Ltd., Sharp Corp., Sony
Corp. and Toshiba Corp. of Japan.
On March 18 1998, the eight companies entered into a basic agreement to draw up provisional specifications and develop
detailed specifications. The specifications will be made public in May 1998 on home pages over the Internet. Related URLs are
as follows:
http://www.hitachi.co.jp/Prod/HAVi< /A>
http://www.panasonic.co.jp/corp/HII/AV-IOP.html
http://www.sv.philips.com/news/pr ess/
http://www.sony.co.jp/HAVi/
They will decide conditions to get licenses of technologies required to implement this specification by October 1998,
according to plan.
The eight companies clearly set the IEEE1394 standard as a basis for home networks. However, they didn't exclude use of other
network technologies such as Ethernet. When using other network technologies, the software specifications will be added to
the main specifications.
Advantages of using the new specifications include a plug-and-play function to build a network by simply connecting a device
and interoperability of devices connected to a network with different devices.
The group has stipulated functions to inform devices of the installation or removal of other devices to and from a network,
to enable real-time transmission of video and audio data.
Related stories: Home Networking Becomes
Reality
Home Electronics Makers Set Networking
Specifications
(Nikkei Electronics)
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