A forum of companies devoted to the “Universal Plug and Play” (UPnP) standard among electronics has announced a new set of standardized and secured device management specifications as well as device control protocols (DCPs).

According to a press release, these new device control protocols enhance the device management specifications and add security features that are adopted from device protection specifications. The control protocols cover management needs like diagnostics, configuration and software management.

“UPnP Forum's Device Management protocols are a key missing link in enabling end-to-end management of connected devices in the home,” the release explains.

UPnP is a standard becoming common today when purchasing devices or electronics and allows them to have compliance and inter-connectivity despite coming from different brands. You can use it for purposes like streaming content between your computer and your HDTV set. The devices in your home LAN network discover each other through UPnP and that is how the feature works for wireless inter-connectivity. More devices continue to gain support such as tablets, smart TVs and set-top boxes.

UPnP Forum is a group of companies working together to add UPnP support to devices and compliance between them. According to the Forum website's “About Us” page, “the Forum's goals are to allow devices to connect seamlessly and to simplify network implementation in the home and corporate environments. Toward this end, UPnP Forum members work together to define and publish UPnP device control protocols built upon open, Internet-based communication standards.”

A total of 972 companies are included in the forum and the organization dates back to October of 1999.