Applications and software developers, service aggregators, hardware platform providers, and consumer electronics and automotive manufacturers from all over the world will gather in Stockholm, Sweden at the first Open Services Gateway Initiative (OSGi) World Congress at the Radisson SAS Royal Viking Hotel September 24-27, 2002.

The Congress will showcase applications of OSGi technology including deployments for in-vehicle entertainment and information services, home network services, and smart handheld devices.

OSGi ( http://www.osgi.org ), established in 1999, is an independent, non-profit corporation providing the only vendor-neutral, multiply-sourced specification in the industry to deliver and manage an application or service through a network that runs locally on a remote device. OSGi also works to proliferate these open specifications through the sponsorship of technology, market, and user education programs.

Scheduled speakers for this first-time event include Dr. John Barr, President of OSGi and Director, Standards Realization, Motorola; Claes Nycander, President of Telia Research; Per Ljunggren, CEO, E2Home; and Dr Matthias Stümpfle, Head of Telematics Architectures & Vehicle Services, DaimlerChrysler.

Attendees will hear progress reports on commercially compelling OSGi implementations from a wide variety of organizations including Deutsche Telekom, France Telecom, Telia, Telefonica de España, and Electricité de France. Special emphasis will be given to growth in the automotive telematics industry that OSGi is enabling, with presentations by Audi, BMW, DaimlerChrysler, Ford and Volvo amongst others. The Automotive Multimedia Interface Collaboration (AMI-C) and OSGi will also be presenting previews of coordinated specification updates to define a common set of APIs for automotive information and entertainment platforms.

The advantages of the OSGi framework in product implementations will be discussed by Echelon, MetaVector-Siemens, Philips, Bosch and Siemens Hausgeräte, Possio and Whirlpool. Consortia such as Universal Plug and Play (UpnP), Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB), ERTICO, and AMI-C will talk about how they are working with OSGi on standardization.

Certified OSGi Service Platform Release 2 implementations will be reviewed to allow developers to select the platform and development environment best suited for their applications. There will also be a comprehensive OSGi service bundle development tutorial given by Peter Kriens, OSGi Technology Director, that will show attendees how quickly they can develop compelling solutions for their customers.

"The OSGi World Congress represents a significant milestone for OSGi as we bring certified implementations from multiple vendors, alignment of OSGi with the automotive information and entertainment systems, smart home and energy management solutions, and examples of product implementations and system deployments that have taken advantage of the OSGi service platform," said Dr. John R. Barr, President of OSGi and Director of Standards Realization for Motorola. "The product announcements and alignment of OSGi with key vertical market drivers at the OSGi World Congress signifies the emergence of OSGi as the solution for the network delivery of managed services to local networks and devices as well as a new model for the implementation of complex embedded system solutions."

"By bridging wide area networks with local networks, OSGi is enabling service providers to deliver exciting new services to consumers at home, at work or in their car", said Staffan Truvé, Vice President of Marketing for OSGi and CEO for Gatespace, AB headquartered in Gothenburg, Sweden. "Having the leading global broadband operators and car manufacturers assembling under one roof and demonstrating real-world solutions at the OSGi World Congress is a testimonial to the convergence OSGi is enabling in the world of network-based services."

"The platform designed by OSGi is open and scalable for the delivery of new services. This platform enables manufacturers and service providers to bridge the gap between all common standards and vertical markets and to communicate with the end consumer via one single service gateway platform specification," explained Dr. Susan Schwarze, Co-Chair of Marketing for OSGi and Marketing Director for ProSyst Software AG, headquartered in Cologne, Germany.

"There are many proprietary solutions that let you manage or deliver managed services over a network," said Bob Elliot, Director of Network Products for Whirlpool Corporation. "But OSGi is the only open standard that provides a uniform solutions that everyone can deploy."

Endorsers of the Congress include the Continental Automated Buildings Association (CABA), the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), ERTICO, Home Audio/Video Interoperability (HAVi), the HomePlug Powerline Initiative, ITS Sweden, OSGi, Telematics Valley, and The Wireless LAN Association.

IBM is the Gold Sponsor of the event, with ProSyst and Global Inventures as Associate Sponsors, Gatespace as the Exhibiting Sponsor, and Acunia as a Supporting Sponsor.

As part of the Congress, two inaugural awards will recognize excellence in the area of OSGi bundle development and OSGi application development. Further information regarding these contests is available at http://www.osgi.org/competition/application .

Concurrent with the Congress, OSGi will hold a members-only meeting at the World Trade Center Stockholm on Monday, September 24.

OSGi is a global, cross-industry consortium, with membership open to any interested party, including Internet service providers, network operators, original equipment manufacturers, independent software vendors, end users, academic institutions, government agencies, and non-profit organizations.

For registration information and the full schedule of events, visit http://www.osgi.org/ .