Microsoft Corp. and Intel Corp. are missing from the membership list of Khronos Group, an open standards alliance that is pursuing open application programming interfaces for dynamic media in the wireless space.
In spite of stellar members like Nokia Corp., Texas Instruments Inc. and Motorola Inc., the group seems headed to the battleground with companies intent on fashioning their own platforms.
Meanwhile, Khronos, which derives its name from the Greek god of time, may be on the fast track to develop its APIs before the so-called duopoly of the PC world launches into the mobile arena. Microsoft calls its offering 3D API Mobile, and its PC product Direct 3D.
The Khronos Group is embarking on the beta test of its new API for 3D graphics known as Open GL ES, which stands for graphic language embedded system. The product is a small and lightweight solution, which could be a chip or software, and sits in cell phones. For this year and the first half of next year, the solution will be software, noted Neil Trevett, president of the Khronos Group. But hardware solutions should start hitting the market in the second half of next year.
The group expects its offering to have an edge over Microsoft because it will be compatible with a variety of operating systems including Symbian, Linux, VX Works and even Windows.
Trevett said gaming and advanced user interfaces will benefit from the API. With the advanced user interface, people can maneuver the screen for optimum use in spite of the small form factor. Users will be able to view several pieces of material at a time, as well as maximize, minimize, highlight and perform a variety of tasks without having to cancel a page or lose functionality, he said.
Three new companies recently joined Khronos’s membership-LSI Logic, Toshiba Corp. and XCE. Each has its own contribution to the 3D graphics API specifications. XCE specializes in mobile graphic user interface design, mobile messengers and Java browser development.
LSI Logic designs and manufactures chips for applications that access, interconnect and store data, voice and video. “Joining Khronos further strengthens our capabilities to enable innovative products in the rapidly growing mobile electronics market,” commented Melvin Hirata, director of marketing, consumer custom solutions, LSI Logic.
Five kinds of companies belong to Khronos:
c Phone makers like Nokia Corp., Sony Ericsson and Motorola. (Siemens is absent on the list);
c Central processing units make up the second level of membership, including players like ARM Ltd. and Texas Instruments Inc.;
c Graphic chipmakers like 3D Labs, ATI and Nvidia;
c Software library vendors like Hybrid Technologies and Hi Corp.;
c And finally, infrastructure players like Sun Microsystems Inc., which defines GL ES for Java applications.
Khronos is not focused just on graphics APIs, but across the spectrum of multimedia which-along with 3D and 2D graphics-also includes video and audio.
Explaining how the group pursues its ambition, Trevett separates the functions into two. The first is offering and creation, while the second is delivery and deployment.
The offering and creation consist of such open standards as Open ML and Open GL ES. Open ML stands for Open media language, which is an API standard to allow professional offerings and equipment to work together seamlessly among previously discrete devices. The Open GL ES derives from Open GL, which was on PC and workstations for many years, according to Trevett.
The new announcement covers graphics, but the group knows it has to roll out its other dynamic media products in time for the market.
“We are working on the next version to incorporate 3D graphics and video,” said Trevett. Microsoft has yet to reveal its plans for video, although it has a video API for the PC market.
