VESA To Standardize Home Network For Set-Tops

VOST COMMITTEE ISSUES CALL FOR PROPOSALS

San Jose, CA --July 25, 1995 -- The Video and Electronics Standards
Association (VESA) Open Set Top (VOST) Home Network Subcommittee today
announced a call for proposals to aid in developing standards for the
Digital Video Home Network. Taking the lead in establishing innovative
open industry standards, the subcommittee has developed an architecture
and identified requirements for the home network and now asks all
interested parties to propose corresponding standards for the next
generation of home services.

"While first generation interactive Set Top boxes are built to service only
one TV and generally are designed for a specific trial or service, future
generations will support multiple TVs and multiple service providers,"
said Joel DiGirolamo of Lexmark, VOST Home Network Subcommittee Chairman.
"They will require high performance home digital networks--whole house
systems that allow the consumer to view and interact with any service on
any TV or computer in the home. In addition, the new set top boxes will
interoperate with a wide variety of devices on home networks."

The VOST Home Network Subcommittee will develop interoperability standards
to connect multiple devices that will be purchased and installed by the
consumer. The standard will allow these devices to access multiple
external services delivered by cable, satellite and terrestrial digital
video; as well as internal home equipment including digital video TVs,
VCRs, camcorders, personal computers, printers, and home automation
systems.

The Call for Proposals for the home network identifies a wide range of
applications including:

* Entertainment services such as: broadcast video, video-on-demand, video
games, gambling and multimedia.

* Communications services such as: voice telephony, video telephony, video
conferencing, distance learning, telecommuting and telemedicine.

* Information services such as: broadcast data, on-line services, news and
information on demand, home shopping, home banking and opinion polling.

* Energy management and home automation services such as: demand side
management, automatic meter reading, security, lighting and appliance
control.

Companies participating in the VOST Home Network Subcommittee include
Apple, AT&T, Echelon, Hewlett-Packard, Lexmark, Molex, Motorola, S3,
Samsung, Scientific-Atlanta, SGS-Thomson, and others. The VOST networking
standards will compliment related developments by groups such as EIA R4.1
(ATV Receiver Interface Committee), DAVIC (Digital Audio-Visual Council),
ATM Forum RBB (Residential BroadBand), COS (Corporation for Open Systems),
DVB (European Digital Video Broadcast), MPEG, DSM-CC, and the IMA
(Interactive Multimedia Association).

The call for proposals is published at:

ftp.lexmark.com/pub/vostpub/cfp1_vos.doc

Interested parties are invited to indicate their intention to submit
proposals by August 14, 1995. Full proposals must be received by September
17, 1995, to be reviewed at the VOST Home Network meeting on September
28-29, 1995 in San Jose, California.

VESA is the international organization that sets and supports industry-wide
video, audio, graphics and electronics standards designed to support the
personal computer, workstation, and other computing environments. It is
committed to developing open, interoperable and international standards
for the global marketplace, thus ensuring world-wide market growth. VESA
is a non-profit corporation, established in 1989, and headed by a Board of
Directors representing a membership of more than 240 corporations
world-wide.

For more information on the VOST Home Network Committee, please call
Michelle Luerra at 408-435-0333. For press information on VESA or VOST,
contact Janet Courtenay at 408-435-0333. To arrange an interview, please
call Valdis Hellevik or Lisa Nishimoto at 415-703-0400.
 
 =========================================================
 From the 'New Product News' Electronic News Service on...
 AOL (Keyword = New Products) and Delphi (GO COMP PROD)
 =========================================================
 This information was processed from data provided by the
 company/author mentioned. For additional details, please
 contact them directly at the address/phone# indicated.
 Trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
 =========================================================
 All submissions for this service should be addressed to:
 BAKER ENTERPRISES,  20 Ferro Dr,  Sewell, NJ  08080  USA
 Email: rbakerpc@delphi.com  -or- RBakerPC (on AOL/Delphi)
 =========================================================
