The Hearing Instrument Manufacturers' Software Association (HIMSA) was founded at the beginning of 1993 with the objective of developing, marketing and supporting Noah – one standard for integrated hearing care software. HIMSA is a privately owned company, but it operates much like a consortium – all suppliers within the hearing care industry who are HIMSA members have a significant say in the running of HIMSA and in how the standard evolves. Today, over 120 companies support the Noah software standard. In 2002, HIMSA released NOAHlink, a hardware interface for programming hearing instruments. As of January 2015, over 64000 NOAHlink units have been sold.