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1394 Trade Association Creates New Automotive Work Group

25 January 2000

1394 Trade Association Creates New Automotive Work Group; Will Leverage IEEE 1394 Multimedia Standard for Vehicle Functions, Services

    SANTA CLARA, Calif.--Jan. 25 2000--The 1394 Trade Association today announced the formation of a new Automotive Working Group established to make the IEEE 1394 multimedia standard suitable for use in an automotive environment. The group's work will lead to exciting new multimedia applications for the automobile industry.
    The Trade Association, which includes leaders in semiconductor technology such as Texas Instruments and connector products such as Molex, will leverage the IEEE 1394 standard to provide a cost-effective network solution for vehicle functions and services which are not critical to safety. These include telematics, such as navigation and rescue, and multimedia, including high-speed, high-performance audio and video delivery.
    "The 1394 standard, with its industry-leading speed and bandwidth, is ideal for a full range of vehicle applications," said James Snider, the chairman of the 1394 Trade Association. "It is non-proprietary and easily accessible to any company or consortium that wants to use it, which are critical to the success of any new technology. Through our Trade Association working groups, we continually enhance 1394 and enable its use in new and exciting audio, video, industrial and computing applications. Like our other work groups, this new automotive group will work with other industry groups. In this case, we will work with organizations such as the IDB Forum, to leverage the standard and make recommendations to auto industry organizations for its adoption."
    As with all other 1394 Trade Association sponsored groups, the AWG will meet regularly. It has scheduled a session in Kyoto, Japan for Feb. 23-25 to begin the process of defining requirements to support passenger compartment operations, as well as auto grade twisted pair physical layer requirements, including connector and cable for linking automotive aftermarket consumer electronics products. It also will define automotive grade plastic optical fiber physical layer requirements for OEM installed components.
    Over time, the AWG will make a series of recommendations to organizations such as the Automotive Multimedia Interface Collaboration (AMIC) and the IDB Forum to organize adoption throughout the industry.
    The 1394 Trade Association includes more than 170 worldwide consumer electronics, computer and peripherals leaders dedicated to the proliferation and application of the IEEE 1394 standard. For more information please visit the 1394 TA web sites at www.1394ta.org or www.askfor1394.org or call 1-408-748-9416.