Accessibility Interoperability Alliance Welcomes 26 New Members.Global Industry Alliance Membership Tripled in Year Since Founding WAKEFIELD, Mass. -- The Accessibility Interoperability Alliance (AIA AIA - Application Integration Architecture ), www.AccessInteropAlliance.org, a coalition of leading information and assistive technology Hardware and software that help people who are physically impaired. Often called "accessibility options" when referring to enhancements for using the computer, the entire field of assistive technology is quite vast and even includes ramp and doorway construction in buildings to support companies dedicated to enabling developers to more easily create accessible software, hardware and Web products, welcomes the addition of 26 new members to the association in 2008. This brings total AIA membership to 39 organizations, all of which joined within 12 months of the coalition's founding in 2007. Members joined in three categories: Developer, Contributor, and Supporter. "Our newest members are a diverse group of leadership organizations, including usability experts, magnification software developers, academic institutions, reading solutions providers, and touch user interface The Touch User Interface (TUI) is a computer-pointing technology based upon the sense of touch (haptics). Whereas the Graphic User Interface (GUI) relies upon the sense of sight, the TUI enables not only the sense of touch to innervate and activate computer-based functions, it also allows developers," said Rob Sinclair, chair of the Steering Committee steer·ing committee n. A committee that sets agendas and schedules of business, as for a legislative body or other assemblage. steering committee Noun and director of the Accessibility Business Unit at Microsoft. "By bringing new and often unique expertise into the organization, we continue to strengthen the AIA's capacity to solve longstanding interoperability challenges between Assistive Technology (AT) and Information Technology (IT) products. This is what makes the AIA unique, and we are delighted to welcome these new members to our organization." Developer members who joined in 2008 are Acapela Group, Ai Squared, Colligo Corporation, EyeTech Digital Systems, Inc., IBM (International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, www.ibm.com) The world's largest computer company. IBM's product lines include the S/390 mainframes (zSeries), AS/400 midrange business systems (iSeries), RS/6000 workstations and servers (pSeries), Intel-based servers (xSeries) , Serotek Corporation, and Somatic somatic /so·mat·ic/ (so-mat´ik) 1. pertaining to or characteristic of the soma or body. 2. pertaining to the body wall in contrast to the viscera. so·mat·ic adj. Digital. Developer members may be from the IT or AT industries and must commit resources to participate in at least one AIA project. To be eligible to join the AIA as an IT Developer member, a company must have a proven track record of designing, building and supporting hardware, software applications, operating system operating system (OS) Software that controls the operation of a computer, directs the input and output of data, keeps track of files, and controls the processing of computer programs. software, telecommunications hardware and/or software for the IT industry. To be eligible to join the AIA as an AT Developer member, a company must have a proven track record of designing, building and supporting assistive technology products that help individuals with one or more disability successfully use computers. The new AIA Contributor members are Remedy Interactive, Inc. and Technosite. Contributor members are individuals or entities with demonstrated technical expertise in programmatic accessibility that is recognized by a majority of the Developers of a particular AIA project. For example, Contributors might be interested consultants, researchers or engineers who have engineering expertise related to the work of a specific AIA project and who are interested in reviewing and providing technical feedback to that project team. The Supporter Member category, newly created in July 2008, welcomes AbilityNet, Bloor, Cambridge Online, e-ISOTIS (Information Society Open to Impairments), Fortune Cookie, MainHeading, Nomensa, Royal National Institute of Blind People The Royal National Institute of Blind People[1] (RNIB) is a charity with its headquarters based in London, England, set up by Thomas Rhodes Armitage to lobby for and help people who are blind or partially sighted. Its patron is the Queen. , RTE (1) See runtime engine. (2) (Real-Time Executive) The operating system used in the HP 1000 series. See HP 1000. , Shaw Trust, Teachers College, Columbia University Teachers College, Columbia University (sometimes referred to simply as Teachers College; also referred to as Teachers College of Columbia University or the Columbia University Graduate School of Education , TecAccess, United Kingdom Council for Access and Equality (UKCAE), Universal Access NA KAI, the University of Applied Sciences Kiel, and the University of Pittsburgh, Department of Rehabilitation Science and Technology. Supporter members are individuals or entities that principally represent non-commercial interests for people with disabilities. For example, Supporters may be non-governmental organizations, consortium/foundation representatives, or representatives of other organizations with noted subject matter expertise in accessibility or assistive technology requirements and are interested in providing general support for the AIA organization. About the Accessibility Interoperability Alliance (AIA) Initiated in 2007 by the accessibility industry, the AIA is a group of leading Information Technology (IT) and Assistive Technology (AT) companies, content providers, and other key engineering organizations, working to collaborate on the creation of solutions to long-standing compatibility problems that hinder the development of solutions for people with disabilities. Founding members of AIA include Adobe Systems, BayFirst Solutions LLC (Logical Link Control) See "LANs" under data link protocol. LLC - Logical Link Control , Microsoft, Novell, Inc., Claro Software Ltd., Dolphin Computer Access, GW Micro, Inc., HiSoftware, Inc., Oracle, Madentec, Inc., QualiLife, Inc. and Texthelp Systems, Inc. More information about the AIA and how to join can be found at www.AccessInteropAlliance.org. |
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