SANTA CLARA, Calif. — A group of 14 mobile systems, peripheral and silicon makers formally joined forces this week to form a so-called Mobile Advisory Council (MAC) to speak out on design issues for notebook computers. The group has set its first target: to influence the PC '9X road map written by Intel Corp. and Microsoft Corp.

Word of the MAC was tipped earlier this year when invitation letters initially went out to some 18 prospective members in the group who found existing PC design guidelines too focused on desktop issues. The current members of the group are 3Com, Acer, Adaptec, Compaq, Fujitsu PC Corp., Hewlett-Packard, Hitachi, IBM, Phoenix Technologies, SystemSoft, TDK, Texas Instruments, Toshiba and Xircom.

Intel and Microsoft "declined to be members but they are very supportive of our efforts," said Rebecca Krull, a new business planning manager for 3Com's mobile group and co-chairwoman of the MAC.

The group is already claiming an early victory by having influenced, in two specific areas, the PC '99 design guide that was formally launched today in a 1.0 version. "Our first focus was on PC '99 and we had some real inputs that were accepted," said Krull. "PC 2000 is our next target."

The group successfully lobbied Intel and Microsoft to drop a requirement from PC '99 that all notebooks would have to have the ability to instantly reawaken from a zero-power state, a feature known as D3 cold wake up. It also got the PC powers to drop a requirement that mobile systems would have to supply power to peripherals over a 1394 bus, if they implemented the interface. The group argued such a requirement would rapidly drain a notebook's battery. Krull would not comment on areas of the PC 2000 specification the group hopes to influence.

The PC '99 specification, officially released today, is a book-length document detailing PC and peripheral design requirements and recommendations. Those guidelines have only one relatively small section devoted to mobile-design issues. Nevertheless, the chapter on mobile systems lists a total of 42 design requirements or recommendations for systems to gain a "Designed for Windows" logo from Microsoft. Apart from mobile issues, the major theme of this year's guide was the elimination of the ISA bus and the evolution of the PC toward a more consumer-like appliance.

For its part, the MAC has already formed what it calls a "think tank" working group devoted to the PC 2000 specification. Other working groups will consider issues such as power management for 1394, power management more generally, communications issues such as the definition of a mobile version of the Internet Protocol and a pre-boot environment for controlling a notebook from a remote server.

Krull said that in addition to having a unified voice for mobile issues addressed in the PC 9X documents, the MAC also wants to be a major point of contact for any standards group seeking input on issues related to notebook-computer design.

The initial focus on the influential Wintel guidelines — which are enforced by a rigorous testing and certification process at Microsoft — is so far being greeted with open arms by the powers in Redmond and Santa Clara. "We appreciate the feedback the Mobile Advisory Council has already provided to make the PC '99 System Design Guide the best it can be and look forward to continuing our close technical collaboration with the mobile industry leaders," said David Williams, group manager for PC Hardware Strategy at Microsoft.

"We appreciate the work that groups like the Mobile Advisory Council are doing to provide additional inputs to the PC '9x specification process," echoed Jason Ziller, platform marketing manager for Intel's Mobile and Handheld Products Group.

"I think we have a good core of companies who are excited about this group and see the need for it," said Krull, in an interview earlier this year when the MAC was quietly being formed. "In PC '97 there wasn't even a chapter on mobile systems. The authors of these guidelines, by their own admission, don't understand mobile issues."