An alliance of big tech companies has formed to create standards for communications related to the Internet of things and all electronic devices.

The Open Interconnect Consortium wants to deliver an open-source specification for wirelessly connecting devices. The members include Atmel, Broadcom, Dell, Intel, Samsung, and Intel’s Wind River embedded-software division. The group seeks to accelerate the development of the Internet of things.

The Open Interconnect Consortium’s first open-source code will target smart homes and office solutions.

The Internet of things is expected to consist of 212 billion devices by the year 2020, including PCs, smartphones, tablets, wearables, and a variety of home and industrial appliances, according to market researcher International Data Corp. But to achieve that, chip makers and others in the electronics food chain must agree upon how to connect wireless devices together. The companies want to create a communications framework based on industry standard technologies to wirelessly connect and manage the flow of data among devices. They want the communications to work regardless of form factor, operating system, or service provider.

The consortium will compete the AllSeen alliance, which includes Qualcomm, LG, Panasonic, Sharp, and Microsoft. From what I hear, there’s a rift in the industry over who will own the intellectual property related to the communications.