Standards Information Page

Major Organizations that Create Data Communications Standards

Without standardized protocols for communicating data between computers it would be very difficult to have the low cost and ubiquitous information devices that are available today. These key standards organizations provide a forum for discussion turning discussions into formal specifications. Protocol standards are usually created in one of the following ways:

Defacto Standard - A company creates a protocol that is adopted by other manufacturers. An example of this is IBM's SNA (System Network Architecture) and BiSync.
Industry Association - A group of companies get together with the understanding of creating an interoperable standard. It is not sanctioned by one of the formal standards bodies and may selective on their membership. Examples of this type of group are the ATMForum and The Bluetooth Alliance.
Standards Bodies - Groups that are a government accredited organization and immune to prosecution for collusion (as long as they obey their rules). They have an open, formal process for membership, require their membership to share relevant patents on a fair, reasonable and nondiscriminatory basis. The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) and the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) are examples of this type of standards body.

Each of these approaches has certain benefits and problems. For example, a defacto standard can be done rapidly, usually is complete, and can be modified rapidly should problems be encountered. Standards bodies work a much slower pace designed to ensure input from all its members. A defacto standard may not be widely used but one created by many people invest their time because of their intent to create a product.

There are a large number of organizations creating standards. These organizations usually specialize in the types of standards they work on. For example the T1 organization of ANSI works on protocols primarily used by the phone companies for medium and long distance communications. The IEEE 802 committee works primarily on Local Area Networks (LANs) used for communication over a shorter distance.

Some of the better-known standards organizations are:

ANSI – The American National Standards Institute
ETSI– European Telecommunications Standards Institute
T1– Committee T1
ADSL – The ADSL Forum
ATM – The ATM Forum
ITU – The International Telecommunication Union
IETF – The Internet Engineering Task Force
IEEE – Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers
TIA – Telecommunications Industry Association

Listed below is a summary of each of these standards organizations and a list of the working groups showing the development activity. You may click on their logo to go to their website. For a specific data communication standard, please go to our Web Links page.



		Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers
	A professional organization defines many different industries including Project 802 that defines Local Area Network standards. Important IEEE LAN standards include Ethernet IEEE 802.3 and wireless 802.11. Their current groups are:
	802.1 – Higher Layer LAN Protocols Working Group 802.2 – Logical Link Control Working Group (Inactive) 802.3 – Ethernet Working Group 802.5 – Token Ring Working Group 802.6 – Metropolitan Area Network (Inactive) 802.8 – Fiber Optic TAG 802.9 – Isochronous LAN Working Group 802.10 – Security Working Group 802.11 – Wireless LAN Working Group 802.12 – Demand Priority Working Group 802.15 – Wireless Personal Area Network (WPAN) 802.16 – Broadband Wireless Access Working Group 802.17 – Resilient Packet Ring Working Group



		The American National Standards Institute (ANSI)
	ANSI is one of the primary US standards organizations and it oversees approximately 275 Accredited Standards Developers (ASD) that do the actual writing of the standards. It sets policy, reviews the ASD's rules, and establishes consistent patent policies.. Some of the ASDs that do data communications are: ATIS – Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (T1 Committee) IEEE – Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers EIA - Electronic Industries Alliance OEOSC – Optics and Electro-Optics Standards Council SCTE – Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers SMPTE – Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers For the complete list of ANSI ASDs, click here (size 2.2 MB).



		Committee T1
	The Committee T1, working under the ATIS umbrella and accredited by ANSI, creates network interconnections and interoperability standards for the United States. Their standards focus is on meeting the needs of the telephone companies. Their working groups:
	T1A1 – Performance & Signal Processing T1E1– Interfaces, Power & Protection for Networks T1M1 – Internetwork Operations, Administration, Maintenance, &Provisioning (IOAM&P) T1P1 – Wireless/Mobile Services and Systems T1S1– Services, Architectures & Signaling T1X1 – Digital Hierarchy & Synchronization

The European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI)

ETSI develops a wide range of standards in telecommunications, broadcasting and information technology.

3rd Generation Mobile & GSM
Aeronautical Radio
API - Application Programming Interface
ATM - Asynchronous Transfer Mode
Aurora - Speech Recognition
DECT - Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications
DTM - Dynamic synchronous Transfer Mode
DVB - Digital Video Broadcast
EMC - Electromagnetic Compatibility
Electronic Signature - Electronic Signing of documents
GAT protocol - Generic Addressing and Transport
Hiperlan/2 - High Performance LAN
IPCablecom - Voice over IP on the Cable TV System
ICAAN - Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers

Lawful Interception - Legal Monitoring of Telephone/Data
Maritime Radio
Man-machine interface
MESA - Mobile communication for public safety
Short Range Devices - Wireless Technology

TMN - Telecommunications Management Network
TETRA - TErrestrial Trunked RAdio
VoIP (TIPHON)
VPN - Virtual Private Network
xDSL - Various Digital Subscriber Loop Technologies



		The ADSL Forum
	The ADSL Forum is a nonprofit corporation organized to create guidelines for ADSL network system development and deployment.
	Architecture & Transport Auto-Configuration Operations & Network Management Testing & Interoperability VoDSL - Voice Over DSL

The ATM Forum

The ATM Forum Residential Broadband Group is defining a complete end-to-end ATM system both to and from the home, to a variety of devices, e.g. STB, PC and other home devices. ADSL is seen as one of the possible physical interfaces between the ATM access network and the Home Access Network (HAN).

Standards development has occurred in the following areas:

AIC/ATM-IP Collaboration (formerly LanE)
B-ICI
Control Signaling
DANS - ATM Directory Services
Data Exchange Interface
Directory and Naming Services
Frame-based ATM
ILMI - Integrated Local Mgmt. Interface
Network Management
Physical Layer
P-NNI

Routing and Addressing
Residential Broadband
Service Aspects and Applications
Security
Signaling
Testing
Traffic Management
Voice & Telephony over ATM
User-Network Interface (UNI)
Wireless ATM



		International Telecommunication Union
	The ITU, headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland is an international organization within the United Nations System where governments and the private sector coordinate global telecom networks and services.
	ITU-D - Development Sector ITU-R - Radio communication Sector ITU-T - Telecommunication Standardization Sector The ITU-T was created in 1993, replacing the former International Telegraph and Telephone Consultative Committee (CCITT) whose origins go back to 1865.



		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.
	Applications Area Internet Area Operations and Management Area Routing Area Security Area Sub-IP Area Transport Area User Services Area



		Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA)
	The TIA is an organization within EIA (Electronic Industries Alliance) that represents providers of communications and information technology products and services for the global marketplace through its core competencies in standards development, domestic and international advocacy, as well as market development and trade promotion programs.
	TR-8 - Mobile and Personal Private Radio Standards TR-14 - Point-to-Point Communications TR-29 - Facsimile Systems and Equipment TR-30 - Data Transmission Systems and Equipment TR-32 - Personal Communications Equipment TR-34 - Satellite Equipment and Systems TR-41 - User Premises Telecommunication Requirements TR-42 - User Premises Telecommunications Infrastructure TR-45 - Mobile and Personal Communications Systems Standards TR-46 - Mobile & Personal Communications 1800 Standards FO-2 - Committee on Optical Communication Systems FO-6 - Fiber Optics



	Others worth mentioning: · International Organization for Standardization (ISO)--An international standards organization responsible for a wide range of standards, including those relevant to networking. This organization is responsible for the OSI reference model and the OSI protocol suite. · Internet Activities Board (IAB)--A group of internetwork researchers who meet regularly to discuss issues pertinent to the Internet. This board sets much of the policy for the Internet through decisions and assignment of task forces to various issues. Some Request for Comments (RFC) documents are designated by the IAB as Internet standards, including Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) and the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP).