14 DAY TRIAL // Synchronized and coherent development efforts in concert with common goals and clearly defined priorities could virtually redefine the evolution of technical standards in the United States. Of course, this would require a new level of cohesiveness among the stakeholders laboring to produce emerging standards, as an integral part of the evolution of technology. Microsoft has indicated that it supports coordination as the key to the future of technical standards, and that the current market players are ready to work in “syntony,” provided that an organization would be chosen to helm their efforts.
Craig Shank, general manager, Interoperability, pointed to the National Institute of Standards and Technology as the federal technical agency to coordinate the work around specific technical standards, in his expert testimony with the House Science & Technology Committee’s Subcommittee on Technology & Innovation.
“There is a need for an active convener of the key stakeholders, so together they can assess standards-related needs and frame solutions to resolve differences. We believe that NIST, based on its standards expertise and its reputation as a neutral, science-based organization, is well equipped to serve that role,” Shank stated.
According to the Redmond company, NIST would have to oversee key technology policy areas where extreme complexity, multidisciplinary scenarios and disparate entities need to be married in order to streamline the development of some technical standards. “The Obama administration has identified a number of very complex technology policy areas, such as smart utility grids, health IT and cybersecurity, that impact many different stakeholders. All of these are areas where standards can play an important supporting role in achieving U.S. policy objectives,” Shank explained.
Patrick Gallagher, director of NIST, indicated that an approach that could be applied to the development of future technical standards was already in play with the work done around the Smart Grid. “The Smart Grid effort was characterized by a stronger federal leadership role in convening the appropriate government stakeholders, and private-sector players to coordinate their activities, define objectives and reference architectures, and establish priorities for work towards mutually acceptable goals on an accelerated timescale,” he stated.