The quest for information technology standards for the global information infrastructure

Abstract

m Standards for information technology (IT) play a significant, but often hidden, role in helping people to manage and use the technology effectively. The pattern of rapid change that has marked the development and use of information technology over the past few decades continues today. In many areas of technology, standards, whether developed quickly or through painful deliberations, are expected to endure for a long, useful life. But because of rapid change, it is difficult to develop information technology standards that are timely and that endure. The prospects for a National Information Infrastructure (NII) and a Global Information Infrastructure (GII) have been discussed extensively over the past few years. The envisioned GII is expected to use technology advances to seamlessly interconnect, on a global basis, existing islands of technology and information. One would expect that the anticipated global linking of telecommunications, computing, and consumer electronics technologies would inevitably lead to international standards for information technology. However, past experiences suggest that we cannot assume that international standards will always be the solution. e discuss the environment in which information technology standards are developed and how U.S. interests are served by various types of information technology standards. The observations are based on the authors’ combined experience of over forty years of trying to understand standards development for information technology in support of U.S. commerce. There are genuine differences of opinion on the question of whether U.S. national or international standards are in the best interests of the United States. In the area of information technology, we believe the answer is: it depends. It depends upon the answers to questions such as: (1) How does one define the best interests of the U.S.? (2) What is the definition of an international standard? (3) How much choice is there in whether national, regional, or international standards achieve marketplace acceptance? We believe that, for information technology, answers to these questions are key to coping with or profiting from the emerging GII.