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Fitness Industry Technology Council (FIT-C) Holds First Session

Fitness Industry Technology Council (FIT-C) Holds First Session images: FITNESS INDUSTRY TECHNOLOGY COUNCIL 

The Fitness Industry Technology Council (FIT-C) held its first session, introducing the organisation's Technology Work Group, on October 14.

The Fitness Industry Technology Council (FIT-C) held its first online session, introducing the organisation's 2014/2015 Technology Work Group and providing an overview of “Networked Fitness” Technology and the health & fitness industry. The session was presented by Bryan O'Rourke, President of the Board of Directors of FIT-C and CEO of Integerus, and Dave Johnson, Director at ECOFIT.

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The Fitness Industry Technology Council is a non-profit membership organisation representing the fitness industry's innovative companies and organisations. FIT-C members include the American Council on Exercise (ACE), Nexersys, Polar, Precor, Digital Concepts, Fitpro, Gold’s Gym, Star Trac, Dynastream Innovations, The Green Fitness Equipment Co. and ECOFIT. The council is seeking other thought leaders and innovators to join in the effort to standardise the fitness technology industry and device interoperability. The organisation aims to mobilise resources and find ways to minimise the need for each individual fitness and health organisation to develop an independent solution for each situation.

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Founded in February 2012, FIT-C is dedicated to driving the fitness industry forward by improving user experience and creating interoperability standards for fitness devices. The council was formed to develop technology standards for fitness equipment, third party applications, API and fitness devices, to protect intellectual property, and to provide an open forum for all fitness industry professionals to participate in the effort to eliminate the need for proprietary solutions. The initial work areas for FIT-C include calorie expenditure standards and fitness data transport, to support consistent measurement of calorie burn rates across all models of fitness equipment and to facilitate the transfer of fitness and health data to and from various exercise machines.

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The organisation is introducing an open network platform for key fitness industry manufacturers and developers. Participants in the council's working group will be encouraged to work together to ensure that their specific requirements for data collection applications are met. Companies that have already joined the working group include Intel, ECOFIT, MyZone, Garmin, Stairmaster, Schwinn, Gold's Gym, Star Trac, Fitness EMS, and Dynastream.

Along with the opportunity to network and participate in the development of interoperability standards, FIT-C members are recognised in the organisation's communication materials, including the annual white paper “State of the Fitness Technology.” Membership is open to for-profit and non-profit organisations, C level executives, individual managers, trainers, participants, and students.

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The council has also recently announced a new partnership and collaboration with EuropeActive (EHFA), set to start this month. EuropeActive supports research to improve the quality of knowledge about the fitness industry, and the partnership with FIT-C will provide new insights into the U.S. industry figures and performance. The collaboration will facilitate the process of developing standards for merging and interpreting fitness data, and these standards will eventually serve as a reference point for fitness equipment manufacturers. EuropeActive's current efforts include establishing a European Knowledge Centre for the fitness and health sector. Through the new partnership, the research conducted by FIT-C will be incorporated as part of the community platform.

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FIT-C will hold virtual sessions on the second Tuesday of each month. The next session, scheduled for November 11, will focus on networked systems and APIs and it will be presented by Phil Rankine (ECOFIT) and Chuck Freedman (Mashery). Session 3, to be held on December 9, will cover ANT+ and Bluetooth technologies, with Paul Lockington (Garmin) presenting, while sessions scheduled for 2015 will focus on other aspects of the fitness industry, including enterprise level fitness equipment asset management, health apps and wearable devices, and the Diamond Field Project, the open standard premium fitness console.

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