The Telecommunications Industry Association met last week with senior representatives of the world's leading radio, information and communications technologies standards organizations in Seoul, Korea at the ninth Global Standards Collaboration meeting.
The meeting was hosted by the Telecommunications Technology Association of Korea (TTA). The meeting included co-located meetings of the Global Telecommunications Standards Collaboration (GTSC-2) and Global Radio Standards Collaboration (GRSC-2).
"It has been long-standing TIA policy to cooperate and collaborate with other standards development organizations, whether they be national, regional or international, in advancing global standards needed by our industry," says TIA President Matthew Flanigan. "This helps to avoid duplication, leads to harmonization and produces global standards more quickly. As Commerce Secretary Evans noted in the department's report issued this week, 'The international language of commerce is standards.'''
GSC9 adopted 15 resolutions, including multiple resolutions related to next generation networks, systems beyond 3G, intellectual property rights, wireless access systems, emergency communications and public protection and disaster relief.
Also, in support of World Health Day 2004 which highlighted the terrible death and injury rate from vehicle accidents world wide, GSC-9 noted how medium-range communications between vehicles can help avoid accidents and how automatic crash notification messages can speed the response of help when a vehicle accident does occur. The meeting also recognized the importance of wireless access solutions for broadband delivery in rural and remote areas.
TIA and the European Telecommunication Standards Institute (ETSI) also used the GSC-9 meetings as a venue to renew their cooperation agreement, initially signed in 1991, for another three years.
Dan Bart, TIA senior vice president of standards and special projects, was head of the TIA delegation and played a leadership role in the meetings as chairman of the Intellectual Property Rights Working Group. The TIA also assisted TTA in providing secretariat services for the meeting.
"These meetings provide an opportunity for senior leadership of the world's major standards organizations to get together to address high interest topics, share work programs, and discuss the directions that industry and standardization for industry is headed," says Bart. "The purpose is to accelerate the work at the ITU and help speed global standards in general.'
The next GSC-10 meeting will be hosted by ETSI, August 28-Sept. 1, 2005, in Sophia-Antipolis, France.
The TIA is based in Arlington, VA. For more information visit www.tiaonline.org.
