These days it seems everyone is talking about open interfaces and the consumers’ higher demands for interchangeability of devices. Ever since the first days of CANopen, consumers and manufacturers alike have seen the upside in working with open protocols – and it seems now that something is about to happen in that field.
In the beginning of 2017, a non-profit industrial consortium of developers and users emerged called the NeXt Group, whose main focus it is to: “...pave the way for innovative electronic systems that further improve performance, safety and environmental friendliness”. Located in Germany, the NeXt group is at the forefront of opening up protocols within the lift industry and combining their knowledge through membership.
We had a talk with NeXt group’s board member Jörg Hellmich (ELFIN GmbH).
What is the NeXt group?
In short: NeXt group is a non-profit, worldwide industrial consortium of lift manufacturers, suppliers and other companies from the electronics and software industry. We are financed by membership fees and everyone is invited to become a member.
Why did you start this initiative?
We believe that the independent lift industry in Europe needs a cooperation to be able to meet the challenges of digitization in the future. In our group, we aim to provide an unbiased platform for future developments of components and interfaces – for elevators and escalators – and to promote the image of standardized interfaces.
We develop and publish Next group specifications, reference hardware and software. This includes physical layer definitions, application layer descriptions, reference implementations and tools for development, tests and services.
We aim to be prepared for the upcoming technologies and to improve cost-efficiency without making any compromise with respect to quality. It is a initiative to be able to use the combined knowledge for our best benefit. Not only interfaces need to be standardized, also hardware and software should and could be.
“Co-operate on standards and compete on the implementation”
What is the purpose of NeXt?
Our purpose with the group is to reduce and share development costs and standardize interfaces. This in turn, we believe, will lead to faster development and allows us to compete on equal terms, regardless the size of our company. We co-
operate on standards and compete on the implementation of the technology.
Who is in charge?
It is democratic. Every NeXt group member company has one vote in the annual NeXt group General Assembly, regardless of the company size or number of their employees. The NeXt group’s General Assembly’s job is to appoint the chairs of each board through voting.
They are the Technical Committee, the Business Committee and the Managing Director Committee. The General Assembly then appoints the group’s Technical Committee; who approves and coordinates the NeXt group’s Special Interest Groups, and the Business Committee; who compiles the general marketing guidelines and proposes the annual budget to the General Assembly.
Why should I become a member?
For customers: this means independence from suppliers and lifetime support for their products - real competition. For us: this means the possibility of developing unique selling points, to differentiate ourselves from the international players.
For both it means fast access to new technologies and saving money. NeXt group will also offer other services. These include seminars and conferences, publications, device- and interface testing, and last but not least; the promotion of open interfaces and standardized interfaces. Come see what’s next and be part of the difference.