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Executive Summary
r
Crossroads of Information Technology Standards, a workshop attended
by 60 experts, addressed the importance of standards to the information
industries and their users. The experts represented a cross section of
industry, government, and academia. The result of this two-day session
was a broad consensus on several key aspects of the future of information
technology standards.
CONCLUSIONS
Information technology products, both hardware and software, are a
significant component of the goods sold by U. S. producers in the United
States and in 1988 represented 12 percent of U.S. exports. In addition
to directly contributing to the gross national product (GNP), information
technology products and services are increasingly used by all industry to
improve productivity in the areas that make up the rest of the GNP.
Therefore, the workshop concluded that information technology is a major
element in US. economic competiizveness.
We can see in part what the twenty-first century will bring by looking
today at the "islands" where modern information technology is bringing
superior services to people. Many individual schools now have computers
for accelerated learning, but these are not widely connected. Corporations
constitute other islands with internal, private networks of telephones and
computers. Hospitals make up still other islands, where administration is
automated and even diagnosis is aided by computer.
What a world it will be when the family doctor can access any hospital
1
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or university laboratory for diagnostic support. How efficient it will be when
companies are tied to their suppliers and customers by computer for the
perfect flow of material to and from their assembly lines. How creative it
will be when even high school students can tap world libraries for answers.
We can now extend our earlier vision of "affordable telephone service for
all," already achieved, to a new national policy of "affordable information
for all," which is yet to be achieved, through networking our systems of
business, education, and knowledge.
1b implement such a new policy, we must reexamine our existing
information infrastructure. This infrastructure consists of all public and
private facilities for transporting information (telecommunications) along
with the connected facilities for its logical processing and storage and the
standards and regulations needed to make the infrastructure operational.
Our present infrastructure can deliver almost any information at a price,
but for many users, there are desired services that are not affordable either
in monetary cost or the cost of the time required to learn and avail oneself
of the service.
Thus, to the extent that our information infrastructure falls short
in these respects, a policy of "affordable information for all" will fall
short. Meanwhile, other economic regions of the world aggressively pursue
modern information technology. Accordingly, the workshop concluded
that a strong information infrastructure within the United States is absolute)
essential to our continued success as an advanced industrialized nation.
The more information technology progresses beyond separate telecom-
munications and computer industries toward an integrated technology, the
more there is a need for things to work together. Not only must hardware
be connected but software and data transport and processing applications
must also interact. Therefore, the workshop concluded that standards are
key to the development of a strong information technology infrastructure.
Standards within the United States, as well as international standards,
are agreed to by a consensus process. Many feel that the process is too slow
and inhibits innovation. The workshop participants, many of whom have
been involved with standards-making bodies, felt almost uniformly that the
consensus process, with its checks and balances, is necessary. They felt that
delays occur because top management does not appreciate the importance
of rapid closure on individual standards so that we can all get on with
developing the overall infrastructure.
Industry leaders cannot give the necessary support to the standards
process until they see the significance of an information technology in-
frastructure and can be shown the place that each individual standard has
therein. Therefore, the workshop came to the conclusion that the United
States lacks the vision of afi~ture information technology infrastructure needed
to drive standards activities.
Users often see classes of products that they need before suppliers
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develop the products. Since use of the products requires compatibility
standards, suppliers are sometimes reluctant to develop such products
before the standards are agreed upon. Because such market pull, as
contrasted to technology push, often occurs with inadequate response, the
workshop concluded that the foremost challenge to the individual standards
committees is to anticipate the application of technology rather than t7y to
catch up.
RECOMMENDATIONS
The problem of moving forward with a modern information technology
infrastructure must be recognized at the highest levels of government and
industry, and it has not been. A compelling vision of what we want to
achieve, embracing all aspects of computers and communication, is sorely
needed and it does not exist. A high-level architecture and system plan for
achieving a unifying vision is absolutely essential, and there is no entity or
process in place for their development.
Because of this need, the workshop recommends that:
the Director of the Office of Science and Techrlology Policy should
arrange for an ad hoc blat ribbon stuily by top-level people from in-
dusoy and government to establish. a vision and high-level architecture
for an info~afion technology infrastructure.
Precedents exist for the establishment of similarly chartered advisory groups
under government leadership.
It was clear to everyone in the workshop that much more than vision
and architecture are required to achieve actual implementation. In particu-
lar, standards are absolutely necessary to achieving the ubiquity, openness,
and connectivity that must be the attributes of any new infrastructure that
encourages new services of all lands—voice, data, and video—and exploits
our abilities to distribute information using modern hardware and software
technology.
Leadership of information technology standards by today's public stan-
dards institutions is hampered, most of all, by the lack of a national vision.
Adding to that problem is insufficient recognition and support of stan-
dards by the top-level management of industry and government. While
real motivation will help, there is much room for improving the process,
including the introduction of life-cycle planning that responds quickly, even
if imperfectly, and follows up with the resolution of problems through fast
prototyping and the introduction of carefully phased enhancements.
The consensus was that a revitalized American National Standards
Institute (ANSI) could be equal to the challenge were its role to be
enhanced. The workshop recommended that:
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The American National Standards Institute should strengthen
its role-irl inform~fion networking by the addition of appro-
priate top-lerel industry representatives to its management.
It should extend its influence through the life cycle of stan-
dards by proacfi~ely planning earlier action, streamlining
the process, and supporting implemer~on agreements and
prototyping.
· It should strengthen its role in representing US. needs for
baw7~aP~I standards.
A SENSE OF URGENCY
A sense of urgency about standards is required from top to bottom
throughout the information technologies industry. This means setting aside
at least some competitive tactics for the common good of all. The in-
dustry executives must show leadership and make decisions when nearly
equal choices are presented. They must buck the now apparent trend by
regulators to let the market make decisions no matter how long that may
take. If competitors do not find a win-win approach within existing legal
constraints, they will be stuck with a lose-lose situation.
It is important to note that this view that competitors need to work
together extends to the international scene as well. A desire exists for
more symmetry in our ability to understand and influence standards in
other regions of the world. On the other hand, there is some recognition
that we may not have taken full advantage of opportunities that already
exist.
While there would clearly be economic advantages when a U.S. tech-
nology approach becomes the global standard, there was little support for
the notion that United States should subscribe only to those international
standards wherein the U.S. position has prevailed. A stronger consen-
sus arose that the United States must contribute and participate in the
standards developing process, understand international developments, and
support globally accepted directions which would greatly facilitate an ef-
ficient and free marketplace. Therefore, the objective of common, global
standards achieved through the standards developing bodies should be
supported, while the use of in-country, protectionist standards should be
opposed. Information networking technology solutions cannot be imple-
mented without a supporting standards architecture. It is vital to strengthen
the U.S. standards process and the position of the United States in interna-
tional standards developing bodies. The consensus-based standards setting
in the United States needs to be more responsive to the needs of the larger
marketplace of users and applications in applying and utilizing information
age technology rather than to those of the narrower market of individual
firms.
Representative terms from entire chapter:
technology infrastructure
