STAR Publishes 'DIG2008v1.0' Technology Guidelines for Automotive Dealers

MCLEAN, Va., Jan. 28, 2008 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- STAR (Standards for Technology in Automotive Retail), the IT standards body for the North American retail automotive industry, has published an improved version of the "Dealership Infrastructure Guidelines" (DIG), which will help to facilitate the standardization of an open, common IT infrastructure for all automotive dealerships.

The DIG is a technology reference manual intended to assist dealers and their technology partners in developing a simplified, more cost-effective IT network. It includes information on Internet access, security, local area network design, PC hardware, and other IT components.

"The DIG is an ever evolving guide that helps build a strong foundation for your infrastructure. It has an abundance of information that stays current with the needs of the industry for those implementing and updating new technologies," says Nichole Pierron, STAR Infrastructure Project Manager.

The goal of the document is to help dealers prepare their IT infrastructure for the next generation dealer-to-OEM communication systems.

The 2008v1.0 version of the Dealership Infrastructure Guidelines has several updates. The STAR DIG 2008v1.0 has several changes. First we added a section around Software Management to help dealers inventory and internally audit their PC software.

Next STAR reviewed and added a significant amount of additional content around Disaster Recovery and Business continuation. As well as updated content around Dealer Desktop Management.

Finally, we removed the wi-fi information from Emerging technologies and moved any pertinent information to other chapters in the document.

  The DIG can be downloaded for free at: http://www.starstandard.org/

  About STAR (http://www.starstandard.org/)

The Standards for Technology in Automotive Retail (STAR) organization is the Information Technology (IT) standards organization for the retail automotive industry. The goal of the STAR organization is to use IT standards as a catalyst in fulfilling the business information needs of dealers and manufacturers while reducing the time and effort previously required to support this activity.

Headquartered in McLean, Virginia, STAR is a not-for-profit volunteer organization and its members include Dealers, Manufacturers and Retail System Providers (RSPs). As members, they are interested in developing, promoting, and administering voluntary IT standards in the retail automotive industry and improving the effectiveness, timeliness and competitiveness of the IT solutions needed within the retail automotive industry.

  STAR membership roster:

  Dealer Groups:
  NADA
  Manufacturers:

American Honda Motor Co., Inc., American Suzuki Motor Corp., BMW of North America, Inc., Chrysler, LLC, Daimler Trucks North America, LLC, Ford Motor Company, General Motors Corp., Navistar International Corporation, Jaguar Cars, Mazda North American Operations, Nissan North America, Inc, PACCAR, Inc, Porsche Cars North America, Inc., Renault, Toyota Motor Sales, USA

Retail System Providers:

ADP, Advent Resources, Inc., AIAG, American Financial Services Association, Arkona, AutoDESA, Auto/Mate, Inc., CIECA, DealerTrack, Karmak, Motorcycle Industry Council, National Marine Manufacturer's Association, OAGI, Object Management Group (OMG), Oxlo Systems, PBS Financial Systems Inc., PROCEDE Software, Quorum Information Systems, Reynolds & Reynolds, RouteOne, T-Systems North America, Inc., Unipart Automotive Logistics, Wipro Technologies