AIAG/Odette Initiative Supports Breakthrough Communications System to Save Millions of Dollars

DETROIT, Jan. 18, 2005 -- A new effort by the Automotive Industry Action Group (AIAG) and Odette International will provide a standard set of requirements to support a unified virtual conferencing system that allows the real-time exchange of large data files to virtually anywhere in the world -- the first system of its kind complete with audio, video and chat capabilities, saving the global automotive industry millions of dollars. Currently, no system can accommodate such a variety of communications.

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The goal of this massive undertaking is a virtual conferencing system that operates on any desktop in the global automotive industry allowing for the sharing of large information files, such as engineering drawings, between OEMs and suppliers. In today's environment, automotive companies have different systems -- each with their own unique firewalls, security and other barriers -- that are not interoperable with each other, hindering successful virtual conferencing. Furthermore, present systems are not sophisticated enough to share large data files.

"This is a major effort undertaken by the global automotive industry to specify the requirements and functionality of a unified platform that will enable seamless virtual conferencing throughout the supply chain," said Akram Yunas, collaborative engineering and product development product manager of AIAG. "Millions, if not billions, of dollars can be saved throughout the industry if such a unified virtual conferencing system was to exist."

AIAG and Odette established a Global Virtual Conferencing Work Group that will analyze vendor capabilities for conferencing communications and information sharing.

The two associations are issuing a Request For Information (RFI) on real- time conferencing solutions. The work group will evaluate responses to the RFI and provide a comparison of existing and planned vendor capabilities according to the requirements developed by the work group. The results will be published in the second quarter of this year through AIAG.

To request a copy of the RFI document, please contact Akram Yunas at ayunas@aiag.org .

Founded in 1982, AIAG is headquartered in the metro Detroit area. Its member companies include North American, European and Asia-Pacific OEMs and suppliers to the automotive industry with combined annual sales of more than $850 billion. A not-for-profit association, AIAG's primary goals are to reduce cost and complexity within the automotive supply chain and to improve speed to market, product quality, employee health-and-safety and the environment. Additional information is available on the Internet at http://www.aiag.org/ .

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