A newly formed European , last week presented the first implementation of an embedded, open, operating-system-independent link-layer Application Programming Interface (API) to unify the various methods for accessing different wired and wireless links.

The GOLLUM (Generic Open Link-Layer API for Unified Media access) project is made up of seven European universities and industry R&D units. It aims to reduce the development time and cost of mobile multimedia platforms, as well as improve their functionality and interoperability, and is supported by European Commission, which contributed Eur1.8m to the initiative.

The project's founders argue that a separate programming interface exists for almost every wireless technology, adding layers of complexity to the interfaces required to enable them to connect with other terminals and servers.

Primary objectives of the GOLLUM API are to reduce the development time and cost of mobile multimedia platforms, and to improve their functionality and interoperability.

This API is called the Unified Link Layer API (ULLA) and has been prototyped on a wide variety of platforms, concealing diversity of technologies like IEEE802.11, UMTS/GPRS, Bluetooth, Zigbee, UWB, WiMAX and others.

Through the uniform API, a range of legacy as well as future technologies can be handled in a transparent and simple way, GOLLUM said, as the support for asynchronous notifications allows applications to react dynamically to events happening on the available communication links.

The partners in the GOLLUM project are RWTH Aachen University, STMicroelectronics, European Microsoft Innovation Centre, MATERNA, Telefonica,Toshiba Research Europe and the University of Cantabria.