One of the three leading Linux mobile organisations, LiPS (Linux Phone Standards) has added three members to its ranks.

The LiPS Forum’s new members include leading chip shop Texas Instruments which has expertise in DSP manufacture and design as well as Chinese telecom equipment manufacturer ZTE. European carrier Telecom Italia has also joined up.

LiPS, which was founded by 11 companies last Novemmber, said it has added nine new members over the past six months. LiPS constituents include semiconductor vendors, handset manufacturers, commercial Linux providers, third-party software vendors, and mobile carriers and operators.

The group’s aim is to avoid “fragmentation” of Linux on mobile phones. Currently there are several flavours of Linux on mobiles, that neither look nor act like one another.

LiPS is working to define a common middleware layer, including telephony APIs, graphical user interface, device management, security, application security, and an addressbook.

Its first specifications are expected later this year.