Worldwide 1394 meeting arrives in the UK

Coinciding with a marked increase in IEEE1394 based design activity in Europe, the 1394 Trade Association is holding its worldwide quarterly meeting in the UK for the first time.

Hosted by connectivity IC specialist and 1394 Trade Association member Oxford Semiconductor, the weeklong event beginning on the 7th July in Oxford, brings together international working groups focusing on the implementation of the IEEE1394 ('FireWire') standard in leading edge applications.

Executive Director of the 1394 Trade Association James Snider said, "We are seeing a rapid uptake of the IEEE1394 standard in an ever widening range of PC and consumer electronics products and penetration of industrial equipment and automotive sectors is increasing significantly."

He continued, "A large number of new products incorporating the IEEE1394 standard have appeared in the first half of 2003, with many new PCs and peripherals using the 800Mbps IEEE1394b standard that was introduced in 2002. This increase in momentum is also evidenced by an independent market research report entitled 'FireWire Spark Returns', released in June by InStat/MDR."

Working Groups being held at the UK meeting include:

The wireless working group, which has already established the basic wireless protocols and quality of service requirements to enable wireless 1394 home networking.

The automotive working group, whose 1394 automotive standard was completed earlier this year, and which has been embraced by leading European car makers including Peugeot.

The network working group, which is developing the protocols and specifications vital to 1394's role in the transport of audio and video data in home networks.

Founder and Chief Technical Officer of Oxford Semiconductor Dr Jalil Oraee commented, "There is an increasing amount of 1394 based design activity taking place in Europe among manufacturers of PC, consumer electronic and industrial equipment, who are implementing the 1394 A/V standard into new product design."

He added, "The UK meeting is providing 1394 Trade Association members with a great opportunity to engage with European companies who are just starting out with the standard and to invite their active participation."

With a membership of 120 companies, the non profit-making 1394 Trade Association was founded in 1994 to support the development of computer and consumer electronics systems, that could be easily interconnected via a single serial multimedia link. The IEEE1394 standard has since spawned the ubiquitous multimedia connection solution, also known as 'FireWire' and 'i.LINK'.