Information Technology Association of Canada Voice of Canadian IT industry 200+ members Accounts for >70% industry Policy and advocacy A strong growing information technology industry for Canada.

Information Technology Association of Canada Market Driven Standardization Victor L.F. Boersma

Information Technology Association of Canada Acknowledgements The presentor is very much indebted to Mr. Ken Krechmer and his original research on Consortia and Forums as set out in “Standards Engineering, Volume 52, #4, July/August 2000”. Another source of information was a 1996 Survey report on telecommunication-related forum’s activities by the Telecommunication Technology Committee (TTC) of Japan.

Information Technology Association of Canada Trends Governments are increasingly using standards as the basis for technical regulations. international standards are considered by the WTO as the more valid base for technical regulations,. The WTO has not defined what an international standard is but has given guidelines. The WTO guidelines don’t impose IEC/ISO- like Accreditation requirements.

Information Technology Association of Canada Consequences Publications from non-accredited specification developers might qualify under WTO guidelines as international standards Publications from national or regional, accredited SDOs, might or might not qualify as international standards under WTO guidelines Standards writing will be a competitive business

Information Technology Association of Canada Forums & Consortia Increasing numbers of specifications are being produced in Forums and Consortia: Consortia are thought to have an ability to keep pace with rapid technology changes SDOs are thought to need more time to achieve the broad consensus required to maintain their accreditation.

Information Technology Association of Canada Definitions Forum = Place of or meeting for Public Discussion Consortium = Association of several States, Companies etc. For the purposes of this standards-related measures discussion, I propose as a definition for either: An organization composed of entities with common interests, that writes product or service specifications, for the purpose of improving and increasing, or both, the marketability of their products or services.

Information Technology Association of Canada GROWTH A June 1996 Survey Report on Communications Technology Concortia, by the Japanese Telecommunications Technology Committee (TTC) listed 83 such bodies. February 2002 work by Siemens Staff lists well over 300 such bodies. The phenomenon appears to be centered around the writing of compatibility specifications for products and services subject to a high rate of change, at this time.

Information Technology Association of Canada Consortia Specifications Are market driven Are based on a consensus amongst the members only Will be implemented for self-serving reasons Will self-enforce for self-serving reasons Will tend to cross national and regional boundaries Will coerce non-participants into compliance

Information Technology Association of Canada Are Consortia Successful? The IETF (along with the World Wide Web Consortium) have been responsible for the standardization of the Internet Funding mechanisms for standards work and for forum/consortium work are very different and explain differences in results. The more clear the common commercial goals of the members are expressed, the better their chance of success.

Information Technology Association of Canada Funding as the Driver A difference in funding is probably the most significant difference between SDOs and Consortia and their products: Consortium funding is made available on the basis of the immediate value of the specification to a product or service and will be focussed and shortsighted SDO funding is made available on the basis of overhead expense and may lead to farsighted standards work where the end product often is not as originally anticipated

Information Technology Association of Canada Development Standards development consists of evaluating the merit of alternative approaches in the contributions by people who are trained and experienced in that process. Consortia specification development consists of describing a chosen approach, often by people who are not trained and experienced in that process.

Information Technology Association of Canada Intellectual Property SDOs require disclosure of IPR but cannot negotiate a resolution. Resolution outside the SDO often leads to significant implementation delays or even abandonment of the work. Consortia make acceptance of an IPR agreement a precondition for participation. Hence, work on implementation is often started before the full specification is agreed upon.

Information Technology Association of Canada Parochial Focus Using national and regional SDOs to generate standards for a global market is an expensive and slow two-tier anachronism. This process often reduces commonality world-wide. The multinational character of the consortia enables them to by-pass this SDO process. This characteristic alone is a powerful corporate support driver for consortia.

Information Technology Association of Canada Branding SDO brands are their most strategic asset. In Canada, it has more value to state that a product complies with a CSA standard than to state that the product complies with the spec of an XYZ Forum. SDOs need to develop marketing skills and become more concerned about how they market their products to their customers. Many Forums and Consortiums market their products better than SDOs.

Information Technology Association of Canada Promotion The focussed and immediate commercial objectives that drive a consortium or forum, usually include promotion funding SDO funding lacks that drive and it will be difficult for an SDO to raise funding for standards promotion.

Information Technology Association of Canada Testing Testing of complex systems that are subject to rapid change is both essential and expensive. Consortia often provide this through multi-vendor and inter-vendor cooperation, but, Transient Forums and Consortia do not provide the best venue for establishing a widely recognized “seal of approval” or brand.

Information Technology Association of Canada Collusion The procedures of accredited SDOs should prevent collusion by the participants to restrain trade of competitors. Forums and Consortia don’t have such restraints but there never was any legal action taken by those who might have felt coerced. It would appear that collusion is not a big issue for industry at this time.

Information Technology Association of Canada Consortia Advantages Focussed Funding Single-tier, international, specification development A-priori negotiated IPR Good Marketing Support

Information Technology Association of Canada SDO Advantages Structured accountability Experienced developers Broad consensus that goes beyond self interest of developers Well-known brand names

Information Technology Association of Canada Consortia Here To Stay Consortia address significant issues that SDOs have not addressed Consortia have the potential to complement SDO work, particularly where special technological information is needed Consortia can provide timely, market- relevant international specifications, where legacy SDOs failed

Information Technology Association of Canada SDOs Here To Stay There is an important role for SDOs that produce international standards, in areas where a broad consensus is needed SDOs can add value to Consortia specifications by giving them their brand imprimatur

Information Technology Association of Canada Market Driven Standardization, Everyone Can Win There is an opportunity for legacy SDOs and Forums/Consortia to work in a complementary way for the purpose of providing the world with timely and market-relevant standards, specifications and technical regulations