Sun Microsystems, Samsung, Pioneer and other leading companies join HAVi Organization
HAVi Organization announces a host of new member companies at Consumer Electronics Show.
(Las Vegas, Jan. 7, 2000) -- The HAVi Organization today announces the entrance of over a dozen new member companies at its first industry event at CES. The HAVi Organization was formed by eight leading Consumer Electronics companies that jointly developed specifications for a home entertainment network, providing plug and enjoy convenience and interoperability to connected digital home devices.
Since the formation of the HAVi Organization in November 1999, fifteen companies have become members. These companies include Digital Harmony Technologies, Loewe, Kenwood, LG Electronics, Mitsubishi Electric, Pioneer, Samsung Electronics, Sanyo, Seiko Epson, Sun Microsystems, Tao Group, QNX Software Systems, Vivid Logic, Wind River Systems, Yaskawa Information Systems. Numerous other companies and organizations also have expressed their support for HAVi, or their intention to become a member.
"We are very pleased with the interest and industry support that we received so quickly after the establishment of the HAVi Organization," says Cees Jan Koomen, President of Philips Home Networking, and Chairman of the HAVi Board. "We are confident that with this level of support HAVi will soon become the standard for the home AV entertainment network."
The HAVi founding members comprise eight leading consumer electronics companies, which have worked together in a co-operative project over more than two years to develop the present standard. They are: Grundig AG, Hitachi, Ltd., Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. (Panasonic), Royal Philips Electronics, Sharp Corp., Sony Corp., Thomson Multimedia and Toshiba Corp. A contribution has also been made to the specification by Victor Company of Japan, Ltd. (JVC) in co-operation with Matsushita.
The mission of the HAVi Organization is to promote the adoption of the HAVi architecture and to develop interconnecting 'bridges' with other home networking standards such as Jini technology and Universal Plug & Play (UPnP).
HAVi membership companies
HAVi is a multi-brand standard intended primarily for the networking of digital AV home entertainment products. Devices connected in a HAVi network can interoperate, which means that they can share each other's resources and functionality across the network. With a HAVi network, users are no longer faced with the complex set-up and operation of many separate devices and remote controls. All they will have to do is enter the task they want to perform, and HAVi will do the rest. HAVi features easy 'plug-and-enjoy' functionality and uses an underlying IEEE 1394 digital interface (i.LINK™ or FireWire™).
Membership information
Interested companies may now join the HAVi organization as a "Participant" member or a Non-Profit Participant member. Participants receive the latest information about the HAVi specification, and may join working groups and participate in other HAVi Organization activities with an annual membership fee of US$10,000. Non-profit members, such as universities or research institutes may join the Organization at a reduced annual fee of US$2,500.
An evaluation version of the HAVi specification can be downloaded here.