Trade Association Calls for New, Innovative 1394b Connectors
The Trade Association has established a cutting-edge technical objective and
challenge: create innovative, cost-competitive 1394 I/O connectors to
enable new applications of FireWire, including miniature-powered 1394b
products and stacked 1394b connectors. continued

1394 Trade Association Releases New and Revised Specifications on Blu-ray, Set Top Box Functionality
The 1394 TA has issued a trio of new specifications focused on video compression, audio and music transmission, and set top box functionality. continued

New FireWire Reference Table Technical Paper Ready
The 1394 Trade Association has published a comprehensive reference table white paper created to help designers optimize the use of the 1394 (FireWire) standard in their product designs. continued

1394 Automotive Compared with Proposed Ethernet AVB is Focus of New 1394 TA Technical Backgrounder
The Trade Association has released a new, comprehensive comparison of 1394 Automotive with the proposed Ethernet AVB specification for vehicle network applications. continued

New 1394b-Equipped Products Rolled Out at VISION 2010 in Boston, May 25-27
Leaders in high performance, 1394b-equipped industrial cameras brought their latest products to the VISION Show in Boston in late May. continued

Fujitsu Semiconductor Demonstrates 1394-Automotive Capability at Auto Engineering Exposition in Yokohama
May 19-21 continued

As we move into the summer months, we can point to significant progress this year, with several specifications now completed and an impressive set of detailed technical reference guides and papers that amplify FireWire’s exciting and innovative applications.

We’ve issued revised specifications covering US set top box testing, a revised BT.601 version that addresses the upcoming analog ‘sunset’ directive that applies Jan. 1, 2011 to new Blu-ray products, and a version of the Audio Music Data Transmission Protocol (v 2.2) that addresses multichannel audio formats for Blu-ray. Our expert authors have contributed comprehensive new reference guides and papers on IIDC Reference Tables and a comparison of 1394 Automotive with the proposed Ethernet AVB specification. These documents are now available on the TA web site, and we invite you to take a look.
 
Also, we are preparing for our third quarter meeting hosted by Fujitsu Semiconductor in Sunnyvale July 12-14.  We really want you to join us here, at our first meeting in Silicon Valley in several years.  Please visit the website for details and plan to join us for this important session.
 
One added note: some of you are aware that the FCC has authorized waivers to selected organizations concerning their use of 1394 in set top boxes.  This is only a temporary waiver; the FCC is continuing its review of the original STB mandate.  While we disagree with the FCC decision, we will aggressively advocate 1394 as the optimal choice for consumer product networking. We are continuing to have dialog with the FCC on this matter.

-- Max Bassler, Chairman