New ISO brochure focuses on force multipliers of ICT standards innovation

ISO (International Organization for Standardization) has just published a new brochure providing a concise overview of how information and communication technologies (ICT) standards can be a force multiplier for achieving positive results. It focuses on the work developed by the joint technical committee of ISO and IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission), ISO/IEC JTC 1, Information technology.

Information and communication technologies (ICT) pervade all sectors of economic activity and the daily lives of most people worldwide (business, industry, home, administration, education, charity, etc.). They are key components of economic growth, offering significant employment. The effectiveness and growth of the ICT industry are determined by the ability of the component parts to “talk” to each other – to interoperate.

The 24-page brochure is entitled The force multiplier for ICT innovation – ISO/IEC JTC 1 Joint Technical Committee 1, Information technology, standards. It explains how ICT standards developed by ISO/IEC JTC 1 are absolutely essential to the interoperability of different component parts and products from different manufacturers.

“With more than 2 400 standards and related documents developed by over 2 000 national body experts from around the world, ISO/IEC JTC 1 brings innovative solutions and best practice to the marketplace,” the brochure states. “Its standards benefit all stakeholders in society: individuals and businesses and governments.”

Individuals benefit from:

  • More choice and reduced costs: when standards are used to allow greater ease of access to more than one choice of system, this results in greater competition between manufacturers and service providers.

Businesses benefit from:

  • Economies of scale: with standardization, industry can more quickly reach a critical mass, and achieve a return on R&D costs. International standardization initiatives can open up the global market
  • Greater consumer confidence in products or services bought from companies observing International Standards
  • Increased sales: flexible, interoperable products will be more attractive to clients.

Governments benefit from:

A tool for securing policy initiatives:

  • ICT standards are crucial for the development of interoperable applications, which themselves are important to future economic growth
  • ICT standards provide a measure by which to judge bids for public procurement tenders. International Standards enable procurers to not be “locked in” to a single proprietary platform. In the past 25 years of its existence, ISO/IEC JTC 1 has brought about a number of very successful and relevant ICT standards in the fields of multimedia (e.g. MPEG), IC cards (“smart cards”), ICT security, database query and programming languages as well as character sets, to name just a few.

The brochure covers five examples of the newest innovative and interoperable ICT solutions under the responsibility of ISO/IEC JTC 1 that are offering huge benefits to ICT companies and customers alike:

  • Smart cards
  • Bar codes and RFID
  • Information security
  • Biometrics
  • Cloud computing.

It describes new developments and future direction of its work and how the joint technical committee is addressing accessibility. The lists of ISO/IEC JTC 1 participating countries, PAS (publicly available specification) submitters, and organizations in liaison are also included.

The force multiplier for ICT innovation – ISO/IEC JTC 1 Joint Technical Committee 1, Information technology, standards, A4 landscape format, is available in English (ISBN 978-92-67-10558-1) and French (ISBN 978-92-67-20558-8) editions, free of charge from ISO Central Secretariat through the ISO Store or by contacting the Marketing & Communication department (see right-hand column). It can also be downloaded as a PDF file free of charge from the ISO Website.