Companies aim to promote standards and applications for the new technology HANOVER, GERMANY — Sony Corp., Nokia Corp. and Koninklijke Philips Electronics NV have teamed together to promote a new technology dubbed Near Field Communication (NFC), which they say will enable a range of touch-based interactions in consumer electronics, PCs and mobile devices.The companies announced the NFC Forum at the Cebit trade show in Hanover, Germany, Thursday, aiming to promote standards and applications for the new technology, which was jointly developed by Sony and Philips. The announcement was previewed by Sony President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Kunitake Ando at Cebit’s opening ceremony Wednesday evening, where Ando trumpeted the expansion of wireless multimedia services.NFC utilizes RFID (radio frequency identification) interconnection technology, the companies said. Operating in the 13.56MHz range, the technology allows users transfer data over a few centimeters. The companies are hoping to spur broad adoption of the technology, which would allow a mobile phone user to touch her device to a friend’s digital camera, for example, to transfer a digital image. For larger data transfers, NFC would be complemented by other wireless technologies, such as Bluetooth. RFID would initiate the data transfer through the touch “handshake” and Bluetooth could then complete the data transfer between the devices at a greater distance than that allowed by NFC, they said.NFC also works with contactless smart card technology, like the FeliCa cards Sony developed for payment applications and electronic ticketing in public transport.NFC can be used for payment purposes, allowing users to, for instance, touch their mobile devices to a PC to purchase music from an Internet portal. “This easy and intuitive interaction between electronic devices changes the way information and services are accessed by consumers,” said Peter Baumgartner, senior vice president of Philips Semiconductors.Because NFC operates in conjunction with smart cards, Bluetooth, infrared and other wireless technologies, the forum founders do not see NFC replacing existing technologies, but working alongside them, they said.“We are creating an opportunity for our industry to create whole new services,” said Timo Poikolainen, Nokia’s vice president of marketing. Sony, Nokia and Philips are inviting other companies to join the forum, and said that there has already been a lot of interest from companies in the semiconductor, telecommunication and consumer electronic industries.The group expects the first NFC application to be launched later this year, allowing consumers to more easily install a WiFi network in their home. The group is working with broadband service providers to offer a smart card containing broadband and network settings that can then be swiped past a NFC-enabled WiFi base station, and any NFC-enabled devices in their home to swiftly configure their networks, the companies said.Online download services, such as music sites, are another niche that the companies are targeting in the near term, they said. The NFC Forum is nonprofit, however, designed to set interoperability specifications and jointly develop applications, the companies said.Sony, for its part, “will strongly promote integration of NFC in various consumer electronic devices,” said senior executive vice president Teruaki Aoki.While the company executives said that the transactions using the RFID-based technology are secure, they did not give price or security details on implementing NFC. Software Development