Group formed to promote digital content sharing

A non-profit organization dedicated to the simplified sharing of digital content, such as digital music, photos and video, among networked consumer electronics (CE), mobile devices and PCs has been formed by seventeen leading consumer electronics, computer, and mobile companies. Dubbed as the Digital Home Working Group (DHWG), its founding members of the group include Fujitsu, Gateway, HP, Intel, IBM, Kenwood, Lenovo, Matsushita Electric, Microsoft, NEC CustomTechnica, Nokia, Philips, Samsung, Sharp, Sony, STMicroelectronics and Thomson.

The group shares a common goal of establishing a platform of interoperability based on open industry standards and will deliver technical design guidelines that companies can use to develop digital home products that share content through wired or wireless networks in the home. Examples of these products are PCs, TV receivers, set-top boxes, printers, stereos, mobile phones, PDAs, DVD players, digital projectors, and other devices.

The interoperability framework and technical design guidelines established by the DHWG are expected to provide the baseline for the development of multi-branded products and solutions that will work better together. The DHWG design guidelines will utilize well-known and established standards such as Internet Protocol (IP), UPnP, Wi-Fi, and other common formats.

The goal of the group is to deliver guidelines resulting in the first compliant products within the next 12 months.