[W3C News Release] Open Web Platform Progress Drives Expanding Industry Interest

Open Web Platform Progress Drives Expanding Industry Interest

Nearly Forty Organizations Join W3C In Twelve Months
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http://www.w3.org/ --- 10 May 2011 --- W3C and its partners are creating 
an innovative Open Web Platform for application development. The 
platform has captured the attention of a great many industries that see 
the business opportunities enabled by its richness, universality, and 
interoperability across diverse devices. At its biannual membership 
meeting this month in Bilbao (Spain), W3C will discuss how the platform 
is transforming these industries, and the implications for both Web 
technology and W3C.

"W3C's Open Web Platform is emerging as the platform of choice for the 
delivery of services and the development of rich applications across a 
broader set of industries, including mobile, television, publishing, and 
advertising." said Dr. Jeff Jaffe, W3C CEO. "The immediate impact of new 
Web standards will result in more innovation, more powerful Web-based 
products and services, and economic opportunities for businesses and 
consumers alike."

W3C is broadening the scope of its activities and helping other industry 
groups leverage the benefits of the platform. As a result, thirty-nine 
organizations from sixteen countries have joined W3C in the past twelve 
months, including these leaders in media, television, entertainment, 
gaming, telecommunications, device manufacturers, and social media: 
*China Unicom*, *Comcast*, *Facebook*, *LG Electronics*, *NEC 
Corporation*, *Netflix*, *SanDisk*, *Sony*, and *Zynga*. Testimonials 
<http://www.w3.org/2011/05/membership-testimonials> from a number of 
recent Members shed light on their reasons for joining W3C, such as 
HTML5 <http://www.w3.org/html/>, CSS <http://www.w3.org/Style/CSS/>, SVG 
<http://www.w3.org/Graphics/SVG/> and other important existing work, but 
also new activity around Real-Time communications 
<http://www.w3.org/2011/04/webrtc/>, Geolocation 
<http://www.w3.org/2008/geolocation/>, Web and TV 
<http://www.w3.org/2011/webtv/>, Web Performance 
<http://www.w3.org/2010/webperf/> and Audio on the Web 
<http://www.w3.org/2011/audio/>.

"These exciting developments are fostering a more diverse community at 
W3C," continued Jaffe. "We are pleased to welcome new members who bring 
relevant technical expertise to solve the next generation of technical 
challenges on the Web."

Participation is growing in other ways as well, including greater 
numbers and diversity at W3C Workshops on a broader range of Web topics. 
Recent and upcoming topics include Web and TV 
<http://www.w3.org/2010/11/web-and-tv/>, Web Tracking and User Privacy 
<http://www.w3.org/2011/track-privacy/>, Web Identity in the Browser 
<http://www.w3.org/2011/identity-ws/> (24-25 May), Federated Social Web 
<http://d-cent.org/fsw2011/> (3-5 June), and Mobile and Web Technologies 
in Social and Economic Development 
<http://public.webfoundation.org/2011/01/MW4D_WS/> (4-5 June).

"When W3C members meet in Bilbao, Spain this month, we look forward to 
lively discussions and debates about the future of the Web," said Tim 
Berners-Lee, W3C Director. "We appreciate the dedication and commitment 
of all our members and staff to work together on the challenging 
business, technical and social issues facing the Web today. And we are 
of course excited by the momentum and enthusiasm being generated by 
HTML5 and other elements of the Open Web Platform."

EDITORS' NOTES:
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This press release:
     - in English: http://www.w3.org/2011/05/membership-pr.html.en
     - in other translations: 
http://www.w3.org/Press/Releases-2011#x2011-membership

Testimonials from a number of recent W3C members [BiscayTIK . China 
Unicom . Comcast . Infraware . LG Electronics . LINKatu . Mobilizy . 
Mondeca . Mobilizy . NEC Corporation . Ontos AG . Pacific NorthWest 
National Laboratory . SanDisk . Sony . Université de Lyon . World Wide 
Web Foundation . Zynga]:
http://www.w3.org/2011/05/membership-testimonials

About the World Wide Web Consortium:
---------------------------------
The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is an international consortium where 
Member organizations, a full-time staff, and the public work together to 
develop Web standards. W3C primarily pursues its mission through the 
creation of Web standards and guidelines designed to ensure long-term 
growth for the Web. Over 325 organizations are Members 
<http://www.w3.org/Consortium/Member/List> of the Consortium. W3C is 
jointly run by the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence 
Laboratory <http://www.csail.mit.edu/> (MIT CSAIL) in the USA, the 
European Research Consortium for Informatics and Mathematics 
<http://www.ercim.eu/> (ERCIM) headquartered in France and Keio 
University <http://www.keio.ac.jp/> in Japan, and has additional Offices 
worldwide <http://www.w3.org/Consortium/Offices/>. For more information 
see http://www.w3.org/

Media Contacts:
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Contact Americas, Australia* --- Ian Jacobs, <ij@w3.org 
<mailto:ij@w3.org>>, +1.718.260.9447**
***Contact Europe, Africa and the Middle East* --- Marie-Claire Forgue, 
<mcf@w3.org <mailto:mcf@w3.org>>, +33 6 76 86 33 41

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