New GigE Web site now available

FEBRUARY 2--The GigE Vision Standard Committee, formed in June 2003 to define an open transport platform based on GigE (Gigabit Ethernet) for high-performance vision applications, has set up a new Web site. You can check it out at www.pleora.net/gige. GigE is the high-speed, 1-Gbit/s (gigabit-per-second) version of Ethernet, the world's dominant LAN connection protocol. The 12-person committee includes representatives from every major sector of the vision systems industry and is cochaired by Toshi Hori, president of JAI-Pulnix, and George Chamberlain, president of Pleora Technologies.

The GigE Vision Standard will benefit the industry by speeding time to market, increasing R&D resources for customer applications, opening new applications markets, and leveraging economical, well-understood commercial technology--such as GigE switches, GigE network interface chips/cards, and standard Cat-5 copper cabling--to make vision systems more affordable and easier to use. Reducing the cost and complexity of vision systems will remove key entry barriers into many lucrative new business sectors.

The GigE Vision Standard Committee is committed to a general-purpose GigE standard that brings value to a wide range of vision applications, including industrial inspection and control, medical imaging, intelligent traffic monitoring, surveillance, digital cinema, and others. To accommodate this broad applications scope, and ensure all industry players benefit, the specifications are being designed with ample room for innovation. Individual companies will be able to optimize products for specific applications, and differentiate their offerings from competitors.