San Ramon, CA — /PRNewswire/ — The Open Services Gateway Initiative (OSGi) today announced that its membership grew by 45 percent in the first quarter of 2000, with 19 companies joining the organization. OSGi is now comprised of 58 leading technology companies working to define and promote open standards for the delivery of multiple services over wide-area networks to local networks and devices. Member companies plan to gather for the OSGi annual member meeting, May 1-3 in San Diego, to finalize the initial release of the OSGi technical specification.

An independent, non-profit corporation, OSGi is made up of 14 component and infrastructure providers, 16 network operators, 10 service providers and 25 appliance and electronic equipment manufacturers. A complete, current listing of OSGi member companies is available on the OSGi Web site.

“The momentum behind OSGi has really started to build in 2000, as evidenced by our organization's rapid membership growth,” said John Barr, president of OSGi, and director, Systems Architecture and Technology for Personal Area Networks, Motorola. “OSGi is garnering interest from leading hardware, software and networking providers along with makers of brand-name appliances and consumer electronics. We're looking forward to the strong support of our membership at the OSGi annual member meeting and CONNECTIONS 2000 in San Diego, where many companies will be announcing their support of OSGi in next-generation products scheduled for release later this year.”

The OSGi specification, which complements virtually all-residential networking standards, defines an open standard that enables multiple software services to be loaded and run on a services gateway such as a set top box, cable modem, DSL modem, PC or dedicated residential gateway. Initially based on Java technology, the OSGi specification enables a new business model for the home networking market by allowing multiple value-added services to share the cost of a single services gateway and gives application service providers, network operators, and device and appliance manufacturers both application and platform independence.

With the OSGi specification, high-value services can be dynamically loaded over a wide area network into a services gateway. Once resident in the services gateway these services, such as energy measurement and control, safety and security services, health care monitoring services, device control and maintenance, electronic commerce services and more, can interact both with devices and networks in the home or small office and with clients and servers. The services gateway can also consolidate and manage voice, data, control, Internet and multimedia communications to and from the home and small office.

New Members Support OSGi Mission

“As a leading provider of broadband access for homes and businesses, Texas Instruments is proud to join the OSGi consortium because it extends our strategy to bring consumers flexible and programmable DSP-based services,” said David G. Brenner, CTO for TI's Broadband Services. “TI's products are deployed in broadband systems worldwide and are powering the next-generation services that will deliver media-rich content and provide for an easy and enjoyable Internet experience. Looking ahead, TI plans to deliver OSGi-compliant platforms and will continue to assist our customers in driving the deployment of broadband services.”

“InfoGear's participation in OSGi underscores our commitment to work with key players to define standards for deployment of applications and services across multiple Internet-appliance platforms,” said Dennis Tsu, vice president of marketing, InfoGear Technology Corporation. “Service providers, telcos and device manufacturers demand and deserve a high level of consistency in network access to appliances ranging from handheld devices to screenphones to web terminals and everything in between. InfoGear's strategy of providing standards-based solutions is in complete alignment with the overall goals of OSGi.”

“Infomatec perceives OSGi as an excellent communications platform and will be playing an active role in the development of OSGi specifications and their implementation,” said Franz Hintermayr, CTO of Infomatec Internet Appliance Systems (IAS) GmbH, a subsidiary of Infomatec AG. “We hope to contribute through our extensive experience in the embedded Linux operating systems area.”

“Maytag looks forward to working with OSGi to create a home networking environment which is flexible, open and offers the maximum value to the consumer,” said James Powell, director of external communications for Maytag.

OSGi Annual Member Meeting and CONNECTIONS 2000

The OSGi annual meeting, May 1-3, will provide updates to members on current and future OSGi specification work, organizational status and marketing plans. In addition, the meeting will feature breakout sessions for OSGi working groups, including the Java Expert Group, Architecture Expert Group, Market Requirements Working Committee and Marketing Working Committee. Non-members can attend the opening session, lunch and evening reception on May 2 to gain an overview of OSGi and its plans. Attendance at all other events, specifically the breakout sessions, is restricted to members. Information about the annual member meeting and attendee registration is available on the OSGi Web site.

About OSGi

The OSGi is a non-profit corporation formed to provide a forum for the creation of open specifications for the delivery of multiple services over wide-area networks to local networks and devices, and to accelerate the demand for products and services based on these specifications worldwide through the sponsorship of market and user education programs. The San Ramon, California, USA-based consortium comprises 58 member organizations from around the globe. Membership is open to any interested party, including Internet Service Providers, Network Operators, Original Equipment Manufacturers, Independent Software Vendors, end users, academic institutions, government agencies, and non-profit organizations.

 
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