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Both the International Standards Organization (ISO) and the International Telecommunications Union (LTU formerly the CCITT) are embarking on information infrastructure standards initiatives. The ISO and ITU have planned a joint workshop to address standards issues.
The ANSI LISP goals are to identify the requirements for standardization of critical interfaces (i.e., connection points) and other attributes and compare them to national and international standards already in place. Where standards gaps exist, standards development organizations will be asked to develop new standards or update existing standards as required.
ANSI LISP is developing a database to make standards information publicly available. In its deliberations, the ANSI LISP has been reluctant to identify specific networking architectures or interconnection arrangements and appears to be confining its efforts to a cataloguing process.
The TSACC is an umbrella organization for all the standards organizations in Canada. It is a forum where all parties can meet to discuss strategic issues. The objectives of TSACC, in respect to the Canadian Information Infrastructure and the GII, are similar to those of the ANSI IISP. However, TSACC considers the identification of specific networking architectures and associated specific access and interconnection points essential to achieving the goals of universal access, universal service, and interoperability.
The Sixth Review Committee (SRC6) of ETSI published a report on the European Information Infrastructure (ELI) that emphasizes the standardization of the ELI. Many of the recommendations in the report concern the development of reference models for defining the particular services and identifying important standards- based interface points. Broadband ISDN is recommended as the core technology for the ELI.
DAVIC was established in Switzerland to promote emerging digital audiovisual applications and services for broadcast and interactive use. DAVIC, which has a very pro-consumer slant, believes that these services will only be affordable through sufficient standardization. The council has formed technical committees in the following five areas:
DAVIC may be the only forum in which home convergence issues can be solved.
Following are two interesting US-based information infrastructure initiatives.
The Electronic Industries Association (ELA) and its affiliate Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) have just released version 2 of their white paper titled Global Information Infrastructure: Principles and Promise. The basic principles conclude that:
The CSPP is not a standards organization but an affiliation of the chief executive officers of several American computer companies. The CSPP has published a document titled Perspectives on the National Information Infrastructure: Ensuring Interoperability. The CSPP document identifies the following four key points-of-presence as candidates for standardization:
The technical challenges of creating a Global Information Infrastructure are not insurmountable. The main difficulties arise from industries competing for the same business rather than sharing an expanding business, and from the lack of agreement on necessary open standards to achieve universal access and global interoperability that would expand the total business.
Interoperability requires agreed- on network architectures and the associated standards that could, in some cases, stifle innovation. A balance must also be struck between government regulation and private sector control over GIL development. However, if each camp can cooperate, it is possible that in the future the communications, information, and entertainment industries could merge technology to provide plug- and- play components integrated into a single, coherent system that offers exciting new services that exist now in only the wildest imaginations.
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