Now we are going to define why it is that standards are important and the benefits that we as individuals can derive from standards and what we can avoid. Watching the bloke next door getting ripped-off after we mentioned that whatever did not comply with the appropriate standards and then the thrill of the “I told you so” moment for those so inclined is what we are going to get from part three of the standards, standardisation and policies guide. So let us to it.

What are the Benefits of Standards?

Some of the benefits that can be derived through the use of appropriate standards include:

Consistency and Reliable Repeatability - You can confidently swap out faulty or worn out components with new ones if the standards by which both components comply are the same.

Uniformity - Allows us to predict in a reliable manner what should or should not happen or how goods and services should be performed or discharged without the need for our personal observation to ensure that this is in deed the case.

Interoperability - Components, systems, networks, products and services that comply with the prescribed standards can be relied upon to interoperate (work together).

It doesn't matter what make or brand your PC is if it has the appropriate minimum requirements then it will be able to do the job. One computer using the Internet Protocol (IP) will be able to communicate with another using IP.

Similarly one router using an open standard routing protocol will be able to function with any other router that is using the same open standard protocol. It's what makes the Internet work.

Versatility - Commonly seen in the for of Mix-and-Match or Plug-and-Play components

Compliance - Both industry-wide and organisation-wide compliance when reflected through a persistent consistency among peers is always beneficial to the general populous.

An example that illustrates this point can be seen in oil companies agreeing to manufacture their products to a set of given standards; which may be set nationally, or as is more often the case now-a-days by international agreements collectively herded under the “GREEN” banner. This allows companies to maximise the efficiency with which they allot and use their and their peer's resources.

In Australia this is seen with petroleum refineries where one of the major players owns and operates the refinery (a very expensive piece of kit in deed) in one city supplying all the needs of all companies within that city and its defined distribution area. Another company does likewise in another city and so on.

This is how we have arrived at the current point in time where each of the major cities (the state capitols) has at least one refinery that is owned and operated by a different company to the refineries in the other major cities.

The net result is that in combination with some government control the petrol prices are relatively stable and uniform across the nation. I know that by saying this I will immediately spark off the next round of petrol price wars but what the hell.

Vendor Independence - Consumers have a greater vendor-base from which to select a product or service with the confidence that if it meets with the appropriate standards it will do the job required. It is here that certification labeling such as we currently see from the Wi-Fi Alliance comes into play. This is a topic that I will deal with in greater depth a little later in this series.

Predictability - Being confident that whenever you put your foot on the brake it will have the desired effect is undoubtedly a major factor in any buying decision. I myself have had the experience of driving off into the sunset (sunrise really) and about 80 Kilometers down the road I had cause to slow down in order to merge onto the freeway. To my great horror when I put my foot on the brake and began to apply a little pressure it went straight to the floor. Thanks to gears and a functional hand-brake tragedy was averted.

Stability - In terms of product, service, price, quality, capabilities across a range of products and services whether delivered by the same manufacturer, vendor or service provider allows the consumer to plan their use and the period over which they intend to use any given product or service. Buying comfortably in the knowledge that this product or service will satisfy your needs for at least the next five years brings greater stability to an industry as a whole and the market-place in general.

Improved Quality - We have a base point from which we can declare a minimum standard and then it is to the competitive advantage of manufacturers or service providers to exceed that in order to gain more customers. Pricing of course plays its part but most people seem to like to say that they brought the better model because…. Rather than confess to having purchased what they really could only afford. This “keeping up with the Jones's” mentality is what drives the credit card industry to ever greater record profits year after year.

Competition - A competitive market-place and economic climate is always to the consumers advantage

Reduced Volatility - Time has shown us over and over again that reputations take years to build and seconds to destroy. Reduced product and/or service volatility in the eyes of your customer will always present in the customers eyes as being years of expectant product use which is always a big incentive for them to buy now.

Increased Consumer Confidence - Once again customers and whatever confidence and or loyalties they may have are undeniably a major driving factor in the economy. Customer loyalty plans show just how much this factor is recognised as being important to manufacturers, vendors and service providers alike.

Alternatives - As well as providing viable alternatives to often draconian legislation; a point I will not labour any further.

What is Standardisation?

In the context related to technologies and industries, standardisation is the process of establishing a technical specification; called a standard, which is held common among competing entities in a market, where this will bring benefits to the consumer without hurting the free and openly competitive nature of a “free” and “open” market place environment.

What are Standardisation Processes?

There are four recognised standardisation processes: compatibility, interchangeability, commonality and reference which together create compatibility, similarity, measurement and symbol standards.

What is Standards Compliance?

Attaining a standards compliance accreditation/certification infers the attainment of a minimum set of predetermined specifications which in the case or quality and quality assurance also entail process, procedure and methodology.

Why Do We Have Standards Organisations And What Do They Do?

Standards organisations, their activities, and the roles they play and who they are will be the topic of the next episode; part four, when this series about Standards, Standardisation and Policies. So stay tuned and I'll see you soon.

Policies

In short policy originates from within an organisation with the objective of delivering positive benefit or avoiding negative effect from the organisation's perspective. The degree of compliance with policy is generally not negotiable and the individual at fault will generally experience some form of penalty being imposed by their organisation. In this case the ultimate penalty would be termination of employment.

Standards

On the other hand standards tend to originate from without and may be voluntarily adopted by the organisation or their compliance may be forced upon an organisation by external forces such as government legislation or industry-wide recommendations. Standards infer compliance or opt-in. The degrees of compliance tend to be rigid in areas of regulatory need as failure to comply will ultimately result in penalties being imposed upon an organisation. Depending upon the breach incarceration may result.

The Importance of Standards

Now let us examine the concept of standards in a little more depth. We will begin by looking at the question “why do we need standards?”

Often the importance of standards goes unnoticed until we are faced with the scenario of a total lack of any standards and the chaos that ensues. Standards and the standards organisations that define them form the basis upon which technologies are developed and eventually delivered to our door.

It is through the roles played by standards and the standardisation that can result from them that we begin to see consistency and improvements in aspects such as: quality, safety, reliability, efficiency, interchangeability, and the provisioning and delivery of these benefits in the most economical (cost effective) manner. It is no good having the world's greatest product if it does not have the in-built capabilities to interact and interoperate with other devices.

Put simply we need standards in order to provide consistency and compatibility across the board for each and every class and type of device and technology. Areas of great complexity that need multitudes of individual components to interoperate in a carefully orchestrated manner; as is the case with most things in our electronic technological world today, are built on foundations based on standards and standardisation.

For example:

The Internet as we know it today has evolved through a number of various stages beginning with a simple transmission of information between a very limited number of geographically diverse systems.

• At first only text was transferred between end-points using a set of standards and protocols known as the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) & the Hypertext Markup Language (HTML). Or as they are generally to as “the language of the web.”
• The protocol suite that was initially designed to address all of the issues involved in achieving this was defined as TCP/IP and the model that was built as a reference model to overcome the incompatibilities inherent in proprietary systems; the Open Systems Interconnect (OSI) was formulated and standardised
• Then over time and as technology built on these foundations the transmission of graphics and other images became feasible. Sound was also transferred via the web.
• The quality of the images and sound transmitted improved. Compression technologies matured and the transfer of digital media such as music in the form of MP3 or photos as JPEG files became ever more popular.
• Building even more on our foundations (the OSI Reference Model and TCP/IP) all manner of digital media became transferable via the Internet. The advent of publically available, accessible and affordable email along with the popularity of e-commerce saw the massive explosion in growth of the Internet in the late 1980s and the .com (dot com) boom of the nineties.
• This explosion was fueled by the massive drop in prices of networking equipment; including PCs, home modems and network adaptors falling below $30 per unit. Added to this we saw the competition between Internet Service Providers (ISPs) become ever more intense and so we witnessed the birth of electronic communications between private individuals on a global scale.
• Eventually fully digital systems became the norm and such capabilities as streaming media, RSS feeds, and digital shopping and commerce became realities
• Today we are seeing this continue to evolve into such forms as Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), Voice over IP (VoIP) and Unified Communications (UC) at both the corporate and private levels. The capacity for us to “stay in touch” over vast distances still fuels the ever expanding realms of the Internet.

The point is that without standards and standardisation none of this would be possible; at least not now. Email is one of the more pervasive of the Internet technologies as we don't even need to be at any given physical location or at any specific particular device in order to receive or send it. The local library serves the same purpose as your home PC or the one at work and now even your mobile phone is getting in on the act.

Consider for a moment the scenario where vendor X's hardware, software and services were incompatible with those from vendor Y and you would have a world in which only those aligned with vendor X could intercommunicate and the same for vendor Y's customers. But neither would talk between the other.

What is a Standard?

A Standard is a published document which sets out the specifications and procedures that are designed to ensure that a material, product, method or service is fit for its purpose and consistently performs in the way it was intended.

A standard can be: open, proprietary, de facto, de jure, opt-in and even an opt-out standard all of which I will be discussing in the second part of this series. As the series unfolds I will be discussing such topics as:

• What is in a Standard?
• What are the Benefits of Standards?
• What is Standardisation?
• What are Standardisation Processes?
• What is Standards Compliance?
• Why Do We Have Standards Organisations And What Do They Do?
• I will provide a brief discussion of a select group of international standards organisations and the roles that they play in the scheme of things. I say select as most of the organisations that I will be discussing are in some way or another related to IT, networking, the Internet, computer systems, communications, security (especially IT related security SANS) as well as organisations that have a diverse influence across the board such as the Project Management Institute (PMI) and disaster related organisations as the tsunami disaster was very close to home (I reside in Australia as you probably have worked out by now).
• Standards, Conventions and Protocols
• The various forms and formats which different standards can adopt including white papers and Request For Comment (RFC)

So until next time enjoy!!