A newly formed European alliance has presented the first implementation of an embedded open OS-independent link-layer API to unify the various methods for accessing different wired and wireless links.

The Generic Open Link-Layer API for Unified Media (Gollum) project comprises 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 functionality and interoperability, and is supported by the European Commission which has contributed €1.8m 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 for them to connect with other terminals and servers.

The Unified Link Layer API has been prototyped on a wide variety of platforms, concealing a diversity of technologies like IEEE 802.11, UMTS/GPRS, Bluetooth, Zigbee, UWB, WiMax and others.

A range of legacy as well as future technologies can be handled through the uniform API in a transparent and simple way, according to the project, 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, ST Microelectronics, Microsoft's European Innovation Centre, Materna, Telefonica, Toshiba Research Europe and the University of Cantabria.