The world economy in the new millennium is becoming ever more information-based. Increasingly, astute decision making is crucial to competitiveness and success in business. For these reasons, the systems used to access and distribute information, and the technologies that drive them, are at the focus of both commercial and regulatory concerns.
In addition, new ICT applications, such as mobile communications, pay-as-you-view video, personal computers, car navigation systems and so on, are also radically changing the way individuals work and enjoy their leisure time. Most people in Europe already use at least one of these technologies on a daily basis.
These applications, however, will not reach their full potential unless both they and their supporting infrastructures are fully interoperable. This is the role of standards. Standards are technical specifications that support the development of open and competitive markets for the benefit of both consumers and industry.
The previously distinct telecommunications, mass media/entertainment and computer industries are converging, giving consumers and service providers more options, and leading to the creation of what has been called the "information super-highway".
In addition, a convergence of the many underlying technologies - fixed and mobile telephones, satellites, cable TV, terrestrial radio and TV, and the Internet - is taking place to form a global communications network. Within this network, different components are being upgraded at different times, in different places and in different ways. The result is a highly complex and organically changing environment, which makes standardization even more important.
The very real opening up of possibilities and opportunities for business offered by these new networking technologies led to talk of the "new economy" - an information-based or e-economy. In the initial excitement about this concept many new companies were born - the so-called "dot-com boom" - and, when the hype failed to deliver, they disappeared. Among the obstacles to their success were a lack of interoperability and too much replicated work - problems that could have been ameliorated through greater standardization.
The promise of the new technologies is real, however, and the world economy is moving from a predominantly industrial society to a new Information Society, offering tremendous potential for growth, employment and inclusion. For those communities able to benefit, the spread of ICT applications brings fundamental changes in the way that people work, study and spend their leisure time. Bringing communities, whether rural or urban, closer together, creating wealth and sharing knowledge, they could enrich everyone's lives. Managing this transformation represents a central economic and social challenge for the European Union.
The success of the Information Society will depend on consumers' ability to take full advantage of the opportunities on offer. For this, they need to be able to access the information they seek and interact successfully on the Internet. If markets are to develop and business is to flourish, consumer confidence must be built.
To ensure that the whole of Europe reaps the benefits of the Information Society, in 1999, the European Commission launched a new initiative, "eEurope 2002 - An Information Society For All". It aims to secure equal access by all of Europe's citizens, to promote computer literacy and, crucially, to create a partnership environment between the users and providers of systems, based on trust and enterprise.
An action plan was drawn up which outlines eleven key areas (Action Lines) where effort should be concentrated: for most of these, part of the task involves standardization activity, aimed at ensuring that the necessary technologies are properly defined and that interoperability between various systems is assured. This standardization work is being spearheaded by the European Standards Organizations (ESOs): CEN, CENELEC and ETSI.
On the 28th May 2002 the EC adopted the Communication "eEurope 2005: An Information Society for all - An Action Plan". This Action Plan succeeds eEurope 2002 and builds on its achievements. Its objectives are "to simulate secure services, applications and content based on a widely broadband infrastructure". The target is that by 2005, Europe should have: modern on-line public services, e-government, e-learning services and e-health services; a dynamic business environment; and as an enabler for these, a widespread availability of broadband access and competitive prices with a secure information infrastructure.
The three ESOs have set up a common Rolling Action Plan, which provides a 3-year work plan in support of the new priorities.
The effectiveness of the Information Society is determined by the ability of the component parts to 'talk' to each other, or to interoperate. Without this, the use of ICT products and services is restricted. Networks and platforms require interoperability, in the same way that European railway systems had to find a common gauge for tracks.
Similarly, the use of many applications depends on the ability of products from different manufacturers to interoperate. For example, video-conferencing will only work if the software and protocols used by many different and competing service providers within different countries are compatible.
Without ICT standards ensuring interoperability, an opportunity will be lost, with negative economic and social consequences for all.
The far-reaching changes taking place as a result of ICT developments touch many aspects of our lives.ICT now provides us with the means to process, store, retrieve and communicate a vast amount of information in digital form. This digital information is communicated irrespective of whether it encodes text, data, sound or video. This has hugely enhanced the variety and quantity of information that individuals and organizations can communicate on a virtually instantaneous basis.
The following illustrates just some of the changes that the digital revolution is bringing to our lives:
Some of these themes are expanded in the section below.
While industry takes the lead in ICT evolution, governments provide the legal framework for operating the new services, to establish trust and confidence. European Member States through the European Commission have therefore given standardization organizations an important mandate to develop certain standards to support ICT.
European public authorities seek to ensure that the Information Society develops in ways that take account of the wider social issues as well as the commercial aspects. In order to reflect this dual imperative, European Standards balance the interests of citizens and industry through the organizations that develop them.
Standardization is therefore helping to reinforce economic growth and competitiveness by supporting networks, infrastructure and applications that are accessible to everyone. In the forefront of ICT standardization policy are certain basic tenets:
European public authorities strongly support open standards in ICT because they can help to ensure open competition in the electronic marketplace and meet the basic requirements of the single market.
ICT standards provide a level playing field on which companies can compete, by using common platforms that ensure freedom of user choice. New entrants to the market can offer new and attractively priced products, promoting the competition upon which international trade depends and which the European single market requires.
European public authorities endorse the market approach by using ICT standards as reference points in invitations to tender, under the directives for public procurement.
The European Commission has recognized the need to develop a modern, coherent regulatory and legal framework to support the Information Society.
A basic step in this process was to establish a liberalized, pan-European approach to telecommunications, which had previously been regulated by individual Member States. Over the last decade, the traditional, national telecommunications monopolies have been replaced by an open and competitive environment. Most Member States opened services and infrastructures to full competition from 1 January 1998 and the rest will soon follow.
European standardization, which has guaranteed the necessary technical interoperability, has been critical to the success of this change.
Who Benefits from Standards?
Sensible standards introduced at the right moment can produce universal
benefits.
Individuals benefit from:
Companies benefit from:
Public administrations benefit from:
An instrument for securing policy initiatives:
Introducing standards at the right time is as important as choosing the right technology. Traditional approaches to standardization have often proved too slow for ICT, but the European Standardization Organizations have introduced a new flexibility to their working methods.
The system for producing formal European standards is rigorous. This ensures a consistent quality and guarantees openness and transparency, which is particularly important. Such standards take at least two years from conception to adoption, however. By this time, the market in ICT may have developed further, or moved in a different direction.
The pro's ...
The ICT arena has witnessed the rapid growth of open or closed consortia
producing 'standards' in the form of technical specifications. The
advantage for companies of working in this way is that the product
can be available quickly, satisfying commercial needs.
Working in closed onsortia also gives companies greater control over the release of information that may be commercially sensitive.
... and the con's
There are also important problems associated with consortia products,
however. They may be biased, selective and not transparent enough
to serve the public interest, or they may not be fully competitive.
Furthermore, they may risk not meeting European competition law
or World Trade Organization Guidelines.
There are now more than 400 consortia active globally in ICT, which creates difficulties for companies' strategic management and for the visibility of their output.
Additionally, SMEs and consumer groups are very unlikely to be represented on consortia, being unable to afford the high participation cost. The result is that specifications may not take due account of their requirements.
A third way
The drawbacks of the two approaches have led to market demand for
a middle way - an open process that combines the tried and tested
backing of the formal standardization process with a fast, market-driven
approach. The European Standardization Organizations have demonstrated
this flexibility with Project Teams (now Specialist Task Forces
in ETSI, or Focus Groups in CEN) of paid individuals to draft documents
on a very rapid basis, matched by fast approval procedures.
In 1997, CEN also created the Information Society Standardization System (CEN/ISSS) to act as the focus for CEN's activities in ICT. CEN/ISSS offers an open environment, known as a CEN Workshop, for producing consensus products more rapidly.
As well as new ways of working, all three ESOs have created new documents, similar to consortia products, but with the openness and consensus associated with the formal standards process. CEN/ISSS products include CEN Workshop Agreements, CENELEC has created the European Specification, and ETSI has created ETSI Standards and Technical Specifications.
It is instructive at this point to examine ICT standardization initiatives that are currently underway. Section III provides a range of case studies - some responding to public authorities' mandates and others market-led.