IoT Standardization: The Road Ahead

The Internet of Things (IoT) is an emerging area of the modern technology which impacts use cases across governance, education, business, manufacturing, entertainment, transportation, infrastructures, health care, and so on. Creating a generalized framework for the IoT with heterogeneous devices and technology support requires interoperability across products, applications, and services that preclude vendor lock-in. Global stan- dardization of the IoT is the only solution to this. Though standardization efforts in the IoT are not new with many national and international standard bodies working today, there are many open areas to debate and standardize—like reconciling country-specific efforts, empowering local solutions, etc. This chapter brings a holistic view of the existing IoT standards, discusses their interlinking, and enumerates the pain points with possible solutions. It also explains the need for country-specific standardization with the example of an Indian Standard Development Organization (SDO), vis-à-vis global initiatives, as a driver for societal uplifting and economic growth.