The PHS Internet Access Forum (PIAF) at its 6th General Meeting on July 9, 1999 officially decided to disband. PIAF was formed in July 1995 with the aim of promoting high-speed PHS data communications services. The Mobile Internet Access Forum (MITF), established on March 11, 1999, recently took over the operation of the former PIAF.



PIAF made great contribution to PHS data communications services promotion. Among its achievements was compilation of 32 kbit/s PIAF Standard (PIAFS), followed by another, 64-kbit/s PIAFS.

MITF aims to promote R&D activities for enabling users in a varied mobile environment to access the Internet smoothly as well as to further diffuse use of multimedia mobile communications. This organization is proceeding aggressively with R&D and standardization work covering broad technological areas. Prof. Shoichiro Asano at the National Center for Science Information Systems (NACSIS) became Chairman of MITF, upon filling his term as the PIAF Chairman.

At present, MITF activities are carried out on two Technical Committees. Technical Committee 1 is responsible for the development of WAP (Wireless Application Protocol)-related Internet access protocols and a wide variety of applications, in addition to promoting the widespread use of these technologies. The work of this Committee has focused on preparation of a WAP environment where the use of the Japanese language and multimedia applications is to be ensured.

On the other hand, Technical Committee 2 is in charge of developing PIAFS-related Internet access protocols and various applications, as well as of promoting further diffusion of these technologies. Currently, this Committee is studying PS (Personal Station)-PS data transmission protocols that enable switching of speeds between 32- and 64-kbit/s. The study results will be compiled into the PIAFS Version 2.2.

This Committee also made public PIAFS that have already been released on the MITF’s website at http: //mitf.arib.or.jp, which can be downloaded in PDF format.