HAVi (Home Audio Video interoperability) entertainment network architecture ready for roll-out with first demo at CES
Eight leading Consumer Electronics companies deliver HAVi specifications and test suite
(Las Vegas, Jan. 7, 2000) -- The HAVi Organization -- founded by eight leading Consumer Electronics companies - today announces the completion of the HAVi v1.0 specification and compliance test spec, commencement of a joint licensing process and gives the first demonstrations of the HAVi home network for members of the press and electronics industry. The fully verified and approved specifications have been developed to enable simple interoperability among networked digital home entertainment products.
The specifications are the result of a co-operative project lasting more than two years by eight leading CE companies: Grundig AG, Hitachi, Ltd., Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. (Panasonic), Royal Philips Electronics, Sharp Corp., Sony Corp., Thomson Multimedia and Toshiba Corp., as well as by Victor Company of Japan, Ltd. (JVC) in co-operation with Matsushita. The demonstrations will take place on January 7th, 2000 at a HAVi press briefing at Winter CES, Las Vegas.
The joint licensing process, enabling interested companies to develop products compliant with the HAVi home network architecture starts today. Licenses cover the use of the HAVi logo as well as patents defined by the HAVi specification, which are required for the production of compliant hardware and/or software products. Considerable interest is being shown in acquiring HAVi licenses by companies in a variety of industries, including consumer electronics, PCs, software, cable distribution and semiconductors.
"As a leading provider of interactive digital consumer set-top terminals in the cable and satellite entertainment markets, General Instrument is very interested in home entertainment networking. We see HAVi as a key enabling technology for the home entertainment network and are integrating HAVi in our DCT5000+ advanced interactive digital set-top terminals as an option for customers who request it," stated Carl McGrath, Vice President of Engineering for General Instrument.
HAVi specification and demonstrations
The mission of the HAVi Organization is to promote the adoption of the HAVi architecture and to develop interconnecting 'bridges' with other home networking initiatives such as Jini and Universal Plug & Play (UPnP).
The HAVi specification is developed for home entertainment AV networks, providing high bandwidth for transmitting multiple AV streams and featuring easy 'plug-and-enjoy' functionality, using an underlying IEEE-1394 digital interface (i.LINK™ or FireWire™). The HAVi specification defines a set of APIs and middleware capable of automatically discovering devices on the network, coordinating the functions of various devices, installing applications and user interface software on each appliance and ensuring interoperability among multiple brands.
The emphasis of the HAVi architecture is on audio and video entertainment products, but the standard can be implemented on many other types of devices. HAVi operates on any hardware or software platform supporting IEEE-1394, and can be implemented on any platform from embedded environments to PC systems.
"Excite@Home takes a great interest in the home entertainment network for interconnecting digital cable set-tops and consumer AV entertainment systems. We view the home entertainment network as an extension of our interactive television solutions, including our leading broadband internet service as adapted for the television. Both directly, and through our involvement in CableLabs, we are working closely with Sony on the integration of HAVi compliant technology into an interactive cable offering to be deployed in 2000," stated Jeff Huber, Vice President of Engineering and Product Development for Excite@Home.
The main benefits of the HAVi architecture
Devices can share each other's functionality -- The key characteristic of a HAVi network is that connected devices will be able to share each other's resources and functionality across the network. All HAVi-compliant devices will automatically declare the functionality they have available, and will make that functionality accessible to other devices over the network.
No complex set-up or operation -- Users will no longer be faced with the complexity of setting-up and operating 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. That means they will no longer need to worry about where that function is located, and input commands to several different devices.
Multi-brand standard -- An important benefit of HAVi is that it is a multi-brand standard. This means that HAVi-compliant devices, regardless of brand, can be connected to a home network and will offer all the HAVi benefits together with the other connected equipment. A further benefit is the creation of an open and future-proof concept. New, compliant devices can be added to a system at a later time, which protects the user's initial investment in equipment.
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 also be downloaded here.