ANSI Approves AHAM Compatibility Standard

WASHINGTON — The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) has signed off on a standard for compatibility between appliances, clearing the way for a new generation of majaps that can be remotely controlled by users, service providers and even other devices.

The new American National Standard, to be officially known as ANSI/AHAM CHA-1-2003 (R 2007), Connected Home Appliances — Object Modeling, was originally released by the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers (AHAM) in 2003. The CHA-1 standard was the first U.S. standard developed to recognize the need for compatibility between appliances, and was developed by AHAM to promote new appliance services and features through networking by describing generic appliance models, objects and high-level messages.

The models define standardized elements of appliances that are accessible and controllable remotely, independent of the underlying communications network. The standard is applicable to clothes washers, refrigerator-freezers, clothes dryers, dishwashers, ranges, ovens and cooktops, microwave ovens and room air conditioners.

AHAM's CHA-1 task force will reconvene to begin exploratory work on whether the standard's purpose or scope needs to be updated to reflect new technologies or new products. The task force is comprised of member and non-member individuals with an interest in inter-operability and connected home technologies. Interested parties should contact AHAM's Jennifer Moyer at jmoyer@aham.org for more information.

AHAM is an accredited Standards Development Organization through the American National Standards Institute. Selected AHAM standards are processed through the ANSI process, requiring extensive review and balloting by a balanced group of stakeholders.

The ANSI/AHAM CHA-1-2003 (R 2007) standard and all other AHAM performance standards are available for purchase online at www.aham.org.