Telefonica Investigación y Desarrollo(TID) - Project Coordinator

TID is a company totally owned by Telefónica S.A and operational since 1988. Telefónica S.A has created TID to fulfil its Research and Development requirements with more excellence and profitability and to contribute to Telefónica Group competitiveness through technological innovation. Over the last years, the line of work of TID has evolved to conform to the objective of becoming a services creation lab. This objective is driven by the emergence of interactive multimedia services which are increasingly becoming a mayor force in the telecommunications market. TID employs over 1200 persons, 93 % of them hold a University degree. TID has facilities in Madrid, Barcelona, Huesca, Valladolid, SaoPaolo and a new subsidiary company has been created recently in Mexico: Telefónica Investigación y Desarrollo de Mexico. All TID activities are carried out conforming to an in house methodology, supported with tools, which have been awarded ISO- 9001 Certification since 1994, ISO-14001 Certification since 1998 and a large amount of prices to innovation and excellence. Nowadays, TID is the most important private company in Spain devoted to R&D. The expertise of TID is spread among different areas that cover the various technologies that are needed by a Telco to offer services over the fixed and mobile/wireless networks and Internet. A few are:

• Services creation, related to the broadband, ADSL, intelligent network, data communications, narrow band ISDN, mobile communications, speech technology, multimedia services, and public use telecommunications.
• Network and services management, both fixed and mobile, using solutions based on the latest standards.
• Network innovation, with the purpose of supporting Telefónica in its effort to offer the widest possible range of services.

In particular, for the project the TID organisation that will take part in BEYWATCH is responsible for the specification and implementation of services for the Digital Home of Telefonica. More than 40 Engineers are working in this area. Moreover the latter organisation has participated in the EC projects which are the source of "inspiration" for BeyWatch: ePerSpace, TEAHA, Astrals and Amigo. 

Synelixis Solutions Ltd - Technical Coordinator

Synelixis is a high-tech SME, that provides complete networking, security, control & automation solutions. By utilizing modern software technologies and open middleware platforms, Synelixis engineers are able to ensure an optimized solution that fulfils the project requirements. Synelixis Solution technology superiority is a result of extensive R&D activities. The Synelixis’ personnel brings with it extensive research background, working for more than 15 years, in the RACE I & II, ACTS, ESPRIT and IST European frameworks in numerous projects and long co-operations with well renowned companies in EU and USA. Synelixis is member of the NEM and the NESSI platform and also Technical Coordinator of the EU funded project SEA FP7-ICT-2007-1/214063, cooperating with prestigious companies like STMicroelectronics, Thomson, Philips, Vodafone and institutes like Fraunhofer HHI, UPM, POLITO and UCLA.
The product-oriented core competencies of Synelixis include expertise in end-to-end multimedia communications and services, telecommunications & network architectures, sensory systems & sensor networks, surveillance & military systems and network security. Aiming to offer professional high-tech solutions, Synelixis has made strategic partnerships with world-wide leading corporations. Synelixis is a registered Cisco and Linksys partner, HP Business Partner and actively participates in HP DSPP (Developer & Solution Partner Program) and the SUN Microsystems Partner Advantage Program. Synelixis is a company with significant high-tech prospects in the fields of networking and security. Powered by excellent people and strong relationships to globally renowned organizations, Synelixis is a
high performance, rapidly growing company.

Germanischer Lloyd

GL is a world class technical assurance and consulting company for the energy industry.
With 6,400 employees in over 80 countries, GL helps clients to deliver improvements in safety, reliability, performance and integrity throughout the asset lifecycle. From planning and design, right through to decommissioning, our aim is to help our clients maximise performance, manage risk and ensure compliance.
At GL, we understand your needs. Our unique large-scale testing facilities, industry-leading software solutions, world class inspection and certification services, and expert staff can help you to improve the performance and extend the life of your major assets.
GL delivers technical expertise, uncompromising quality and first-class services wherever in the world you operate.

EDF

The EDF Group, one of the leaders in the energy market in Europe, is an integrated energy company active in all the businesses: production, transport, distribution, energy selling and trading. The Group is the leading electricity producer in Europe. In France, it has mainly nuclear and hydraulic production facilities where 95% of the electricity output involves no CO2 emissions. EDF operates 1,200,000 km of low and medium voltage overhead and underground electricity lines and around 100,000 km of high and very high voltage networks. The Group is involved in supplying energy and services to more than 40 million customers around the world, including more than 28 million in France. The Group generated consolidatedsales of € 58.9 billion (of which 42% in Europe excluding France) and net income from ordinary operations of € 4.2 billion in 2006. EDF is listed on the Paris Stock Exchange and is a member of the CAC 40 index. Another main feature of the Group is its involvement on research in climate change and in the energy area like new generation technologies, such as renewable energies and their impact on the network, conventional technologies as nuclear, and the interaction between energy market and electric system constraint. The aim of the EDF’s R&D Division is to keep electricity costs competitive, prepare the generating facilities of the future, enhance the quality of supply while preserving the environment, as well as to develop innovative solutions with the customer in mind. The variety of these objectives has led EDF to set up a strong R&D function, including multidisciplinary knowledge, and with a balance between basic research and industrial applications. Figures for EDF’s R&D activities in 2005:

• 1329 researchers of whom 27% women
• 96 teaching researchers, 55 phd candidates
• Participating in 53 FP6 projects (7coordinated by EDF)
• 4 main research sites: Clamart (France), Chatou (France), Les Renardières (France), Karlsruhe (Germany) 

Fagor

Fagor Electrodomesticos, the Spanish white goods multinational, is part of the Mondragon Co-operative Corporation (MCC). Fagor Electrodomesticos has a workforce of 4,500 people and manufacturing plants in four continents: Europe, South America, Asia and Africa. Fagor Electrodomesticos is divided in eight business divisions: refrigeration, washing and drying machines, cooking, dishwashers, heating, small electrical appliances, home systems and kitchen furniture. Therefore, Fagor Electrodomesticos can give a complete solution to all the kitchen environment nowadays, including Home Automation services, and in the coming future with Ambient Intelligence (AmI) concepts. Nearly 50% of Fagor Electrodomesticos investment is spent on research, development and innovation in all business fields and lines. 

Gorenje

The Gorenje Group nowadays encompasses - Gorenje Domestic Appliances - Gorenje d.d. - the joint-stock company holding together 47 integrated enterprises. Over recent years the group has achieved dynamic growth that has resulted in ongoing product development, expansion of production facilities, efficient distribution and sales networks and ever-expanding market shares. Despite the less than favourable market conditions related to the global economy, the Gorenje Group has managed to maintain its position among the five largest domestic appliance manufacturers in Europe, and today 84% of its production is exported. Gorenje d.d. is engaged in the manufacture and sale of domestic appliances. The construction of new plants and the modernisation of old ones, together with the development of new generations of appliances, make this core element of business the most rapidly growing in the entire Group. Gorenje's success should also be attributed to its extensive system of indigenous enterprises and sales operations in a number of countries across the European continent. The Group’s foreign affiliates are to the most part commercial concerns with their own networks of sales representatives, warehousing, logistics and after-sales service. In addition to this, there are also Austrian and Czech subsidiaries engaged in the manufacture of kitchen furnishings. Although the Gorenje Group accomplishes the majority of its sales in the EU, it has - of late - been expanding into the markets of Eastern and Southeastern Europe, ever further increasing its reach as well as upgrading its export sales system. Based on the aforementioned achievements and operational performance, the Gorenje Group has established itself as one of Slovenia’s largest industrial corporations, as well as one of the leading manufacturers of domestic appliances in Europe. 

University of Palermo

DIEET is one of the Departments of the Engineering Faculty of the University of Palermo, one of the largest Universities in Italy (more than 50.000 students). DIEET comprises of three large areas: Electrical Engineering, Electronics Engineering, and TeLeCommunication Engineering. Two PhD programs are also offered on Electrical Engineering, and Electronics & Telecommunications Engineering. DIEET covers a large spectrum of research interests, carried out under the sponsorship of the Italian Research Agencies (MIUR, CNR, ASI, AEI), European Research Agencies (ESA), and several private organizations.

The researchers that will participate to the BeyWatch project are part of the Electrical Machine Lab, Digital Electronic System Lab and Telecommunication Group. People from these groups have a quite large project expertise, as documented by the participation to several projects, including ITEA and IST European projects (ITEA RTIPA, ITEA POLLENS, IST SUITED, IST FIFTH, IST ICEBERGS), national FIRB projects (TANGO, PRIMO, VICOM), and national PRIN projects (RAMON, MIMOSA) among others. The major research topics addressed are: Design and Performance Evaluation of Broadband Networks, IP Next Generation, Wireless Networks, Programmable and Active Networks, Neural Networks, Fuzzy logic, Image processing, Innovative transmission systems (Coding and Modulation). The results have produced a large number of papers in archival journals and international conferences, and a few prototypes.

Well-established cooperation activities involve foreign Universities (Washington University of St Louis, Columbia University, STANFORD University) and several National Organizations (CNR, MIUR, TILAB, CRES, ITALTEL, ERICSSON, TIM, ALCATEL, NORTEL, STM,...). 

The SDES (Sustainable Development and Energy Saving) Laboratory offers innovative and economy solutions with low environment impact in order to maximize energy saving, realize generation prototypes, to realize measurement and automation systems, design solar and aeolian plants, to design and test fuel cell systems, to design electrical power system (delivery). Objectives are research and design activities in the field of wind and photovoltaic generators, renewable energies, efficiency improvement, electrical drives for the industrial automation, artificial intelligence and home automation. The Laboratory is the Sicilian cultural and scientific reference point on innovative technologies for the Sustainable Development and Energy Savings area. The Laboratory benefits of: 11 senior researchers, 15 researchers and a group of post graduate students which are accomplishing their master degree in this area. In this study will be involved four people in the area of energy management and mathematical model implementation plus two people in the specific area of demand side management (connected appliances) and two in costs-benefits analysis and value analysis (8 persons). This team has long time experience in: Home and Building Automation (field tests in power line technologies, radio frequency technologies like ZIGBEE and WIFI, etc.; energy management (demand side simulation and experimental management, etc.) efficiency in energy final uses in domestic ambient (loss minimization algorithms, etc.), Green Building (integration of renewable energy resources and sustainable constructions, etc), the Sustainable development and Energy Saving Laboratory since years carries out designs and feasibility studies as well as scientific papers and conferences in the field of energy management and connected appliances.

The ESD (Digital Electronics System) Laboratory is routinely involved in research and development of microprocessor and microcontroller based embedded systems. Moreover research topics of interest are programmable logic system (mainly FPGA based) and more broadly VLSI digital architectures, with particular emphasis on SoC (System on Chip) and reconfigurable architectures. During the last five years, a strong collaboration has been established with the telecommunication group of the same Department, aiming to study, design and implement smart digital platforms for wireless application. A few prototypes have been realized as demonstrators for several national research project as well as conference participation and scientific publications