ITU-T Kaleidoscope Conference
Innovations in NGN
ICT Standardisation Co-ordinating the Diversity
Kai Jakobs
RWTH Aachen University
kai.jakobs@cs.rwth-aachen.de
Geneva, 12-13 May 2008
The ICT Sector is Characterised by
an extremely high pace of technical
development,
a recognised importance of standards,
(a perception of) slow ‘formal’
standards setting.
Mismatch speed of standardisation speed of development,
Emergence of new standards
setting bodies (SSBs), e.g. consortia.
Geneva, 12-13 May 2008
First ITU-T Kaleidoscope Conference – Innovations in NGN
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The World of ICT Standards Setting,
1970s
before the ICT sector really got off the ground
Geneva, 12-13 May 2008
First ITU-T Kaleidoscope Conference – Innovations in NGN
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The Web of SSBs Today (Excerpt)
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Some Consequences I
Competition emerged.
a choice of platforms for potential
standards setters,
struggles between SDOs and consortia,
issues about an SSB’s ‘credibility’ or
legitimacy (‘good’ and ‘bad’ standards),
potential marginalisation of individual
SDOs.
Geneva, 12-13 May 2008
First ITU-T Kaleidoscope Conference – Innovations in NGN
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Some Consequences II
SDOs ‘fought back’.
shorter turn-around times, fast-track
process, PAS - ‘Publicly Available
Specifications’,
‘new deliverables’ to ‘mimic’ some
consortias’ processes and deliverables.
An even more complex situation.
An urgent need for co-ordination.
Geneva, 12-13 May 2008
First ITU-T Kaleidoscope Conference – Innovations in NGN
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Co-ordination at Different Levels
between individuals in a working group,
between different working groups within
the same SSB (e.g., the IEEE 802.3/4/5
LAN-MAC standards),
between working groups in different
SSBs (e.g., 802.11 and HIPERLAN/2),
between SSBs covering similar ground
DVD Forum and Blu-ray Disc Association,
RosettaNet and ebXML,
SWSI and W3C.
Geneva, 12-13 May 2008
First ITU-T Kaleidoscope Conference – Innovations in NGN
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Co-ordination at Different Levels
between individuals in a working group,
between different working groups within
the same SSB (e.g., the IEEE 802.3/4/5
LAN-MAC standards),
between working groups in different
SSBs (e.g., 802.11 and HIPERLAN/2),
between SSBs covering similar ground
RosettaNet and ebXML,
SWSI and W3C,
DVD Forum and Blu-ray Disc Association.
Geneva, 12-13 May 2008
First ITU-T Kaleidoscope Conference – Innovations in NGN
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Co-ordination Between SDOs
Geneva, 12-13 May 2008
First ITU-T Kaleidoscope Conference – Innovations in NGN
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Co-ordination Between SDOs and
Consortia
ICT Standards Board (ICTSB)
the European SDOs plus several major
consortia,
Publicly Available Specifications (PAS)
a means for a quick transposition of external
specifications into (international) standards,
largely bi-lateral liaison agreements.
Geneva, 12-13 May 2008
First ITU-T Kaleidoscope Conference – Innovations in NGN
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Co-ordination Between Consortia
mutual membership,
apart from that - hardly any.
Geneva, 12-13 May 2008
First ITU-T Kaleidoscope Conference – Innovations in NGN
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Why SSBs Wish to Co-ordinate
Consortia need recognition by policy
EU Directives only reference European Norms:
compliance is pre-requisite in most public
procurement tenders,
ESOs’ ‘lightweight’ products will be eligible,
discrimination against consortium
standards.
SDOs need to avoid marginalisation
consortia are the major players in many
important sectors.
Geneva, 12-13 May 2008
First ITU-T Kaleidoscope Conference – Innovations in NGN
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Why We Need the Formal SDOs I
Why bother if they vanish - let the
market decide.
Well, yes, perhaps, but .....
this approach is valid for some
technologies (e.g., peripheral
interfaces, etc).
Geneva, 12-13 May 2008
First ITU-T Kaleidoscope Conference – Innovations in NGN
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Why We Need the Formal SDOs II
But would you really want to let the
large multi-nationals alone decide about
infrastructure standards like the Internet
or cellular networks?
For such technologies,
time isn’t so much of an issue;
consensus and high quality are.
Geneva, 12-13 May 2008
First ITU-T Kaleidoscope Conference – Innovations in NGN
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Summary
Geneva, 12-13 May 2008
First ITU-T Kaleidoscope Conference – Innovations in NGN
Co-ordination
numerous SSBs are active in the ICT
sector,
reasonable co-ordination between
NSOs, CEN/CENELEC and ISO/IEC,
limited co-ordination between NSOs,
ETSI, and ITU-T,
very limited co-ordination between
SDOs and consortia,
hardly any co-ordination between
consortia.
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How to Improve Co-ordination I
Strengthen existing co-ordination
activities.
e.g., MoU on e-business standardisation,
the ICTSB,
perhaps most importantly - informal links.
Encourage new forms of co-operation.
E.g., extend to major consortia
exchange of documents, work
programmes, and observers,
joint working groups.
Geneva, 12-13 May 2008
First ITU-T Kaleidoscope Conference – Innovations in NGN
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How to Improve Co-ordination II
Identify a suitable division of labour
between SDOs and consortia.
between ‘infrastructure’ (SDOs) and
‘applications’ (consortia; SDOs’ ‘new
deliverables’).
Geneva, 12-13 May 2008
First ITU-T Kaleidoscope Conference – Innovations in NGN
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Ongoing Developments
The differences between some
consortia and SDO are diminishing.
The dichotomy ‘SDOs vs consortia’
is becoming less relevant.
Selection of the most appropriate SSB
is largely done on a case-by-case basis.
Only the characteristics of an SSB
are important (not its ‘status’).
Geneva, 12-13 May 2008
First ITU-T Kaleidoscope Conference – Innovations in NGN
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And Finally
Co-ordination of, and division of labour
between, all relevant SSBs is called for.
(European) policy makers need to
accept that consortia are here to stay,
and that they are doing important work.
Create a more level playing field
for all SSBs.
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First ITU-T Kaleidoscope Conference – Innovations in NGN
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Thank You Very Much for Your Attention
Questions, Please .....
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First ITU-T Kaleidoscope Conference – Innovations in NGN
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