Free Intel Software Controls Home iAppliances

By Bernard Cole
iApplianceWeb
(04/29/02, 12:32:11 PM EDT)

Santa Clara, Ca. --- Intel Corp. researchers have released new software that allows developers to build wireless cell phones and personal digital assistants (PDAs) that can control personal home networks with UPnP technology from inside or outside the home.

UPnP networking technology enables personal computers and smart networked devices (such as security systems, entertainment systems, and Internet gateways) to automatically connect with one another and work together over the same network.

The new software toolkit integrates UPnP technology into wireless devices, allowing them to control all of the devices on a home network, manage multimedia content throughout a home and create personal networks with other wireless devices.

According to Shane Wall, director of Emerging Platforms Lab, a part of Intel Labs, the software is being offered at no cost to developers of Pocket PC wireless client devices.

It will be offered as a software development kit for the Intel Personal Internet Client Architecture (Intel PCA), a development blueprint for building wireless handheld communications devices that combine voice communications and Internet access capabilities.

The toolkit and a white paper can be obtained by going to: http://www.intel.com/pca/developernetwork/devsupport/index.htm.