IBM Advances Ability of Telephones and Computers to Work Together Through Support of Versit Collaboration
January 6, 1995 — IBM's initiatives towards openness and interoperability, the ability of diverse computers, telephones, and other communications devices from different manufacturers to easily work together, took another major step forward today with the announcement of Versit*, the collaborative effort of IBM, Apple, AT&T and Siemens.
As one of the founding partners, IBM is playing an important role by contributing skills and technology to the development of Versit specifications and supporting the specifications in products.
Versit is aimed at identifying, developing and promoting open technical specifications to advance the compatible exchange of information among a wide variety of devices, such as personal computers, Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) and telephones.
Versit specifications will help break down the barriers between the worlds of telecommunications and computing by enabling these devices to "speak the same language." This will make it easier for people at work, at home, or on the road to exchange information and communicate, no matter what device they may be using.
Versit furthers IBM's strategy of establishing leadership in the emerging network-centric computing market, in which people subscribe to applications and services on high-speed networks and access information anytime, anywhere, using any device and format they want.
"The revolution promised by the convergence of telecommunications and computing will not reach its full potential unless our industries agree to open, interoperable standards that make using a PDA, telephone and notebook computer together as easy as turning an the different components of a stereo system," said Ellen M. Hancock, IBM senior vice president and group executive. "IBM is committed to being a leader in making information accessible anywhere, in any form, at any time, for any user. Versit is uniquely positioned to help us get there because it is a small enough group of companies to get things done, but large and diverse enough to make an impact."
IBM is embracing the Versit specifications, which will be set forth this year and next in the areas of voice, video, data and networking. IBM today announced support for specific Versit efforts in the following areas:
Collaboration IBM's Person to Person* desktop conferencing software enables real-time, multimedia collaboration that turns the desktop into an interactive meeting tool. The next version of Person to Person will utilise IBM's Lakes Collaborative Networking Architecture, which allows video conferencing and other collaborative applications to work across multi-vendor platform.
IBM announced that Person to Person and Lakes will support adapters utilising the H.320 standard for ISDN-based video conferencing as is consistent with Versit's specification. Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) capabilities enable the digitised transmission of voice and video signals.
Connecting and Exchanging Information Infrared Data Transport. IBM today reaffirmed its commitment to the Infrared Data Association (IrDA) specifications for wireless data interchange as endorsed by Versit. Exchanging data through wireless communications with an infrared (IR) link provides users with a convenient and inexpensive method for "beaming" data between devices such as PDAs, notebook computers, telephones and other office equipment. Users can simply "point and shoot," to exchange electronic business cards, or they can use their phone directory stored in their PDA to place telephone calls without wire connections.
Currently, IBM provides an IrDA-compliant link on its recently-announced ThinkPad* 755CE, and will provide IR capability on future mobile products, workstations and adapters.
IBM is already actively involved as a member of IrDA and will continue to work closely with IrDA and the Versit partners on future requirements for a wide range of devices.
Structured Data Exchange. Today, because of the lack of standards, people cannot transmit and exchange information with consistent formats across mobile devices, such as PDAs and laptop computers manufactured by different companies. Versit has developed a common format for interchange of personal information called Personal Data Interchange Specifications (PDIS). PDIS is based on Bento**, a portable object storage library which is part of the OpenDoc** component software architecture from Component Integration Laboratories (CI Labs). PDIS will be used by IBM and its Versit partners for business card exchange.
Computer-Telephony Integration (CTI) IBM will extend its CallPath* product family to support a wider range of clients by adopting a Versit telephony services application programming interface (API), providing current and future CallPath customers with a wider application portfolio to select from.
CTI links telephone functions and business applications to enhance end-user productivity. IBM's CallPath family currently supports personal computers running OS/2* or Windows**, and workstations running AIX* or other versions of UNIX**.
IBM will work with its Versit partners to simplify CTI application development and enhance CTI application portability. As part of this effort, Versit is incorporating IBM's CallPath services Architecture normalisation technology, which allows a single telephony application to be written for and work across a wide range of PBX switches.
Other IBM support Many IBM divisions, such as the IBM Global Network, develop products and services that support network-centric computing, and will work to integrate Versit specifications into their offerings as those specifications become available.
The world of information exchange enhanced through the adoption of Versit specifications can be leveraged through other IBM networking and device technologies. These include networking technologies such as ATM, or Asynchronous Transfer Mode, which provides powerful transmission and bandwidth advantages; multimedia technologies; powerful PCMCIA chip technologies; wireless technologies; operating system software; and systems management software.
* Versit is a trademark of Apple, AT&T, IBM and Siemens.
Indicates trademark or registered trademark of the International Business Machines Corp.
** Indicates trademark of the respective owner.
CONTACT:
Kevin Perlmutter
Tel: +44 705 563802