Availability

Using OCA

• Anybody can implement OCA with no license, no charge, no development kit.  Just go to the website, download the spec, and start.
• No Alliance membership is required to use OCA, and none ever will be.
• Prospective developers should be aware that the current downloadable spec is a recommended standard and is subject to modification in the process of becoming an AES standard.  The AES is not expected to make any significant modifications, but there are no promises.

Development Kit

• You do not need a development kit to implement OCA, although having one makes the job easier.  The downloadable specification contains all necessary information for building an OCA-compliant device "from scratch," if desired. 
• The Alliance does not offer a standard development kit.  With one exception (see "Conformance Testing", below), the Alliance does not produce nor distribute software.
• As OCA evolves, various companies may choose to offer OCA development kits for various computing environments and applications.
• The Alliance has no plans to sell or distribute development kits or other OCA tools.  These will be sold and distributed by the companies ("OCA toolmakers") who produce them.
• The Alliance has a software discount program in which OCA toolmakers may choose to participate.  The discount program allows Full OCA members to license partitipating OCA software at reduced prices.  The amount of price reduction will vary from product to product.
• The only development kit currently available is a full-featured, fully engineered, portable OCA reference implementation from Bosch Communications.  This product participates in the Alliance software discount program.
• There is no open-source OCA implementation available at this time.  Hopefully, one will be produced some day.  The Alliance has no plans for initiating open-source OCA development.
• The Alliance will soon publish a recommended API for OCA implementations.  This API will be a suggested starting point for developers, but will in no way be required for OCA conformance. 

Conformance Testing

• The concept of OCA conformance relates only to the formats and sequencing of OCA traffic in the network. OCA dictates nothing about
  • internal implementations of devices and controllers;
  • exact audio effects of OCA parameter values (for example, two different devices, both OCA-compliant, may interpret a parametric equalizer bandwidth parameter differently);
  • user interface design of OCA-compliant equipment.
• The Alliance does not intend to operate an OCA conformance testing program.  However, read on.
• The Alliance will distribute at no charge to Associate and Full members a self-test tool that OCA manufacturers can use during product development to verify compliance with basic OCA protocol requirements.
• The Alliance will keep the self-test tool up to date, and make new releases available as necessary.
• The self-test tool will be distributed in binary form, but users will be able to extend it to cover proprietary OCA classes, if any, in their products

This document is also available as a PDF.