[August 28, 2012]

Leading Global Standards Organizations Endorse 'OpenStand' Principles that Drive Innovation and Borderless Commerce

http://www.w3.org/ - Five leading global organizations-IEEE, Internet Architecture Board (IAB), Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), Internet Society and World Wide Web Consortium (W3C (News - Alert))-today announced that they have signed a statement affirming the importance of a jointly developed set of principles establishing a modern paradigm for global, open standards. The shared "OpenStand" principles-based on the effective and efficient standardization processes that have made the Internet and Web the premiere platforms for innovation and borderless commerce-are proven in their ability to foster competition and cooperation, support innovation and interoperability and drive market success.

IEEE (News - Alert), IAB, IETF, Internet Society and W3C invite other standards organizations, governments, corporations and technology innovators globally to endorse the principles, which are available at open-stand.org.

The OpenStand principles strive to encapsulate that successful standardization model and make it extendable across the contemporary, global economy's gamut of technology spaces and markets. The principles comprise a modern paradigm in which the economics of global markets-fueled by technological innovation-drive global deployment of standards, regardless of their formal status within traditional bodies of national representation. The OpenStand principles demand:

• cooperation among standards organizations;
• adherence to due process, broad consensus, transparency, balance and openness in standards development;
• commitment to technical merit, interoperability, competition, innovation and benefit to humanity;
• availability of standards to all, and
• voluntary adoption.

"New dynamics and pressures on global industry have driven changes in the ways that standards are developed and adopted around the world," said Steve Mills, president of the IEEE Standards Association. "Increasing globalization of markets, the rapid advancement of technology and intensifying time-to-market demands have forced industry to seek more efficient ways to define the global standards that help expand global markets. The OpenStand principles foster the more efficient international standardization paradigm that the world needs."

Added Leslie Daigle, chief Internet technology officer with the Internet Society: "International standards development for borderless economics is not ad hoc; rather, it has a paradigm-one that has demonstrated agility and is driven by technical merit. The OpenStand principles convey the power of bottom-up collaboration in harnessing global creativity and expertise to the standards of any technology spae that will underpin the modern economy moving forward."

Standards developed and adopted via the OpenStand principles include IEEE standards for the Internet's physical connectivity, IETF standards for end-to-end global Internet interoperability and the W3C standards for the World Wide Web.

"The Internet and World Wide Web have fueled an economic and social transformation, touching billions of lives. Efficient standardization of so many technologies has been key to the success of the global Internet," said Russ Housley, IETF chair. "These global standards were developed with a focus toward technical excellence and deployed through collaboration of many participants from all around the world. The results have literally changed the world, surpassing anything that has ever been achieved through any other standards-development model."

Globally adopted design-automation standards, which have paved the way for a giant leap forward in industry's ability to define complex electronic solutions, provide another example of standards developed in the spirit of the OpenStand principles. Another technology space that figures to demand such standards over the next decades is the global smart-grid effort, which seeks to augment regional facilities for electricity generation, distribution, delivery and consumption with a two-way, end-to-end network for communications and control.

"Think about all that the Internet and Web have enabled over the past 30 years, completely transforming society, government and commerce," said W3C chief executive officer Jeff Jaffe. "It is remarkable that a small number of organizations following a small number of principles have had such a huge impact on humanity, innovation and competition in global markets."

Bernard Aboba, chair of the IAB: "The Internet has been built on specifications adopted voluntarily across the globe. By valuing running code, interoperability and deployment above formal status, the Internet has democratized the development of standards, enabling specifications originally developed outside of standards organizations to gain recognition based on their technical merit and adoption, contributing to the creation of global communities benefiting humanity. We now invite standards organizations, as well as governments, companies and individuals to join us at open-stand.org in order to affirm the principles that have nurtured the Internet and underpin many other important standards-and will continue to do so."

About IEEE

IEEE, a large, global technical professional organization is dedicated to advancing technology for the benefit of humanity. Through its highly cited publications, conferences, technology standards, and professional and educational activities, IEEE is the trusted voice on a wide variety of areas ranging from aerospace systems, computers and telecommunications to biomedical engineering, electric power and consumer electronics. Learn more at http://www.ieee.org.

About the Internet Architecture Board (IAB)

The IAB is chartered both as a committee of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and as an advisory body of the Internet Society (ISOC). Its responsibilities include architectural oversight of IETF activities, Internet Standards Process oversight and appeal, and the appointment of the RFC Editor. The IAB is also responsible for the management of the IETF protocol parameter registries.

About the Internet Engineering Task Force

The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) is a large open international community of network designers, operators, vendors, and researchers concerned with the evolution of the Internet architecture and the smooth operation of the Internet. It is open to any interested individual. The IETF is an organised activity of the Internet Society.

About the Internet Society

The Internet Society is the trusted independent source for Internet information and thought leadership from around the world. With its principled vision and substantial technological foundation, the Internet Society promotes open dialogue on Internet policy, technology, and future development among users, companies, governments, and other organizations. Working with its members and Chapters around the world, the Internet Society enables the continued evolution and growth of the Internet for everyone. For more information, visit www.internetsociety.org.

About the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is an international consortium where Member organizations, a full-time staff, and the public work together to develop Web standards. W3C primarily pursues its mission through the creation of Web standards and guidelines designed to ensure long-term growth for the Web. Over 375 organizations are Members of the Consortium. W3C is jointly run by the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (MIT CSAIL) in the USA, the European Research Consortium for Informatics (News - Alert) and Mathematics (ERCIM) headquartered in France and Keio University in Japan, and has additional Offices worldwide. For more information see http://www.w3.org/.

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