WASHINGTON -- ATIS met last week with representatives from eight leading global standards development organizations and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) to promote innovation and collaboration on next generation (NGN) standards for converged fixed/mobile communications services.

The organizations met at the 10th Global Standards Collaboration (GSC-10) meeting in Sophia Antipolis, France.

“ATIS’ recent emphasis on developing a framework and roadmap for developing needed NGN standards has advanced the global efforts for a collaborative, seamless standards environment,” said Susan Miller, president and CEO of ATIS. “Participating in the GSC meetings allows senior leaders from standards groups around the world to share their visions and ensure a unified direction for standards development.”

“The positive message to the industry is that the standards development work essential for the introduction of innovative technologies into current and future networks is well coordinated and harmonized between the [participating standards organizations] PSOs and ITU,” said Karl Heinz Rosenbrock, director general of ETSI, the host organization. “This is extremely important to ensure timely introduction of 3G mobile networks and NGNs. The evolution of the technologies will continue to be the key building block for the growth of fixed and mobile voice, video and data.”

Several key milestones were accomplished during the GSC-10 meeting.

Members reaffirmed their commitment to standards collaboration initiatives on Next Generation Network (NGN) that were established at the GSC-9 meeting in 2004. This includes seamless interoperability within and between converged fixed and mobile networks offering users security and quality of service as well as expanded features.

A resolution defining the fundamental elements of “open standards” on a global scale.

The addition of the China Communications Standards Association (CCSA) as a PSO.

Multiple resolutions were agreed by the participating organizations on a variety of topics, including: NGN; systems beyond 3G; emergency communications; public protection and disaster relief; Electronic Article Surveillance (EAS) and RF Identification Devices (RFID); home networking; cybersecurity; broadband services in rural and remote areas; wireless access, including RLANS, ad-hoc networking and broadband wireless access; intelligent transportation systems; ultra wide band; measurement methodologies for assessing human exposure to RF energy; intellectual property rights policies; and radio microphone and cordless audio devices.

In addition to ATIS, participants at GSC-10 included the Australian Communications Industry Forum (ACIF), Association of Radio Industries and Businesses (ARIB) of Japan, the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI), the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) from the US, the China Communications Standards Association (CCSA), the Telecommunication Technology Committee (TTC) of Japan, the Telecommunications Technology Association (TTA) of Korea, the ICT Standards Advisory Council of Canada (ISACC) and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). ATIS is a founding member of the GSC.

GSC-10 was the latest in a series that commenced in Fredericksburg, Virginia, in 1990. Its goal is to promote informal linkage among senior officials from national, regional and international standards bodies in support of the work of the International Telecommunication Union. The next GSC meeting in this series is scheduled for May 28 – June 2, 2006, in Chicago.

Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS)