Power Matters Alliance Opens for Business

IEEE recently announced the Power Matters Alliance (PMA) is now opening its doors to new members. Approved as an IEEE Standards Association (IEEE-SA) Industry Connections program, the PMA is an alliance of leading industry and governmental organizations dedicated to advancing smart and energy-efficient wireless power, known as Power 2.0.

Vint Cerf, IEEE fellow, chief Internet evangelist for Google, and also widely acclaimed as one of the "Fathers of the Internet," has been appointed honorary PMA chairman.

"The PMA is dedicated to the idea that it may be possible to do for electricity what the Internet has done for information," said Cerf. "The PMA's recipe for delivering power wirelessly creates a vision of a new world in which power and information become parts of a whole. We are happy to invite interested prospective members to take part in shaping this new era of intelligent wireless power."

Organizations interested in joining the PMA to aid in the effort of remaking power for the 21st century are asked to contact the PMA via its website or at [email protected]. Power 2.0 – the Internet of electricity – is about linking power, information, and energy-efficient solutions utilizing direct current in order to enable and optimize a new approach to power.

"We are honored to have Vint Cerf help us articulate the vision for Power 2.0," said Ariel Sobelman, president, Power Matters Alliance. "With the support we have received from leaders of government and industry - including Duracell, General Motors, Microsemi, National Grid, Procter & Gamble, EMerge Alliance, the FCC, Powermat Technologies, Sony Pictures Technologies, as well as contributions related to energy efficiency from EPA's Energy Star program - we are confident that the PMA will make a real difference to the future of wireless power."

The PMA is established as an IEEE-SA Industry Connections activity. The IEEE-SA Industry Connections Program enables groups like the PMA to launch and become operational quickly, by providing a platform for like-minded companies, government agencies, and others to come together to hone and refine their thinking on rapidly changing technologies.

"IEEE led the wireless Internet revolution with the IEEE 802.11 series of standards, and is poised to do the same for wireless power," said Judith Gorman, managing director, IEEE-SA. "The IEEE-SA Industry Connections Program is an ideal forum for PMA to incubate specifications that can then go on to become globally adopted IEEE Standards."