PALM SPRINGS, Calif. — Decrying the confusion that has arisen from the recent multiplication of digital interface standards for flat-panel monitors, a new fast-track entity called the Digital Display Working Group was announced this week at the Intel Developer Forum.

With core members Intel, Compaq, Dell, Fujitsu, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Microsoft, NEC and Silicon Image in place, the goal is to crank out a comprehensive specification and technology road map for a "universal" digital display interface by the first quarter of '99. By taking the fast track, the group hopes to avoid the delays inherent in standards development by a large group, in this case the Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA), and jump-start the flat-panel monitor market, which some fear is stalling because of dueling standards.

Like VESA's P&D (Plug and Display) and the DFP (Digital Flat Panel), which was recently brought under the VESA umbrella, the DDWG will have PanelLink at its heart, a digital interface scheme from Silicon Image that's also known as TMDS (transmission minimized differential signaling).

The group has both short-term and long-terms goals, said Steve Spina, strategic initiative manager for graphics at Intel's desktop products group: "to deliver a single specification to solve the confusion" and to craft a comprehensive spec addressing a more complete solution than either P&D or DFP.

"Everybody knows this market is about to take off and it would be very unfortunate to see it stall," said Scott Macomber, president of Silicon Image. "People in both [P&D and DFP] camps recognize this and want to solve it [by forming DDWG]. We want to adopt a model that's been successful in the past with things like USB and AGP and just get this thing done."

While "our short-term objective is to get rid of all the confusion," said Macomber, the DDWG spec will have "a much broader scope" than either P&D or DFP. Said Spina, "The P&D and DFP groups are more focused on connectors and there are broader items that are not being addressed. Some things we need to look at are color management and we need to be able to scale [images] and so forth. And what happens when we move into the HDTV world, for example? And how do we address the mobile market? Today's solutions haven't, for example, addressed the connector on the back of a notebook or a handheld device."

Said Spina, "The current specs solve today's problems but we want to look into the future and put extensible hooks into that spec so we can grow it as new display technologies come forward, not just desktop displays but whatever else we may see coming. VESA is working on a small subset [of the overall interface issue], while we'll provide an entire specification from architecture to electrical to mechanical definitions."

But how will DDWG avoid wasting effort on items already being worked through at VESA? What's to keep the relevant VESA groups from just sitting on their hands, knowing the issues are being worked through in another venue? And what's to keep the industry from seeing DDWG as just one more specification, complicating an already confusing picture?

The DDWG members, said Spina, "are all active VESA participants and we came together collectively with the agreement that the way to get this done is to get a small, fast-moving working group together. But," he said, "I don't want to paint a wrong picture. I acknowledge that [coordination with VESA efforts] is going to be part of our challenge."

"We don't have an answer just yet," said Macomber. "Our intention and objective is not to damage or prevent DFP or P&D adoption but to go forward. As long as we have the same basis on the underlying technology, we feel we can manage things. [The group] all agree that to be more successful quickly, to make this move forward and get the ball over the goal line, this is the right approach. We want to get all the wood behind one arrow and really make things happen."