INTERNATIONAL
ELECTROTECHNICAL
COMMISSION
ITU-T, 2011-08-23
Gabriel Barta
IEC Head of technical coordination
Secretary, IEC MSB, CAB

Internet in International Standards

ITU-T Recommendations

ISO/IEC nnnnn-m standards

Developed and/or adopted under the umbrella of
ISO/IEC JTC 1 and its subcommittees

Many with text identical to an ITU-T Recommendation

Many applications in different industrial areas

Examples from the IEC (IEC 6nnnn standards):

TC 57, Power systems management and associated
information exchange: communications for utilities

TC 65, Industrial-process [control &] automation: communications for automated factories

Where does the IEC add value (since 1906)?

In practical industrial situations

As well as commercial and domestic

Safety and electromag.compatibility (EMC)

But also ... IEC standards reduce costs:

By common characteristics

By specifying infrastructure

By guaranteeing interoperability

Mainly using product standards (incl. sys.)

What is a product?

It is a box, a

So the IEC has always standardized things

It has already been standardizing the IoT

Since it began involvement with the Internet

So is there a contradiction, an overlap?

No, there are two complementary views:

How to communicate

What is communicating

Implications for standardizing the IoT, I

A comm. protocol is a beautiful thing

Experts develop and perfect it

They then make it available for users

Sounds good, but is “thrown over the wall”

We need the IoT because the things need it
 Throwing it over the wall won’t work

So develop IoT in constant consideration of the things themselves, the actual boxes

Implications for standardizing the IoT, II

Examples:

NID: must consider existing ID schemes
 “Sensor” networks: if modern devices no longer clearly separate sensors from actuators, the IoT must not be rigid either

We are no longer living in a world where applications come afterwards

Compare the world of mobile apps & survival

Involve the things up front in the IoT

INTERNATIONAL
ELECTROTECHNICAL
COMMISSION