Industry vs. Formal Standardization Bodies

It appears that industry standards are not well regarded by formal standardization bodies. Then it makes all the sense in the world to have industry bodies like Continua Alliance to promulgate industry standards.

“ETSI is non-profit organization whose mission is to produce telecommunications standards for today and for the future. It is an open forum that unites over 800 Members from 53 countries and brings together manufacturers, network operators and service providers, administrations, research bodies and users. ETSI prides itself on being a market-driven organization; its Members, which represent all aspects of the industry, decide its work programme and allocate resources accordingly.”(ETSI 2000c)

However, in the quest for interoperability, European Standards committee tends to neglect the industry based standards. They consider them of lower quality. A standard developed by a formal standardization body has the advantage that it undergoes a certain process (apparently just the right one to give perfect quality) but the cherry on top is that governments may interfere and refer to it within a law. Thus, even though there is no quality guarantee besides word of mouth, the adaptation process is secured to some extent. Selection/adoption of any standard will entail, besides the actual technical details, a bit of drama over who can and will make more profit, irrespective if the environment is official or industry based.

Now it does seem a bit hypocritical for such official bodies not to trust the industry standards. Nonetheless, the industry has found the solution, at least in the Bluetooth Low Energy case. In this case the guarantees come both from the member companies working on it but also from the brand name that Bluetooth has become in this area. I have mentioned this before: BT LE has many technical advantages which makes it a technology worth considering. If governments are not going to include it in some law or regulation, an industry based organization, Continua Health Alliance, will.

The role of this organization is to deal with the problems if connected medical devices. Selecting standards is just one minor task it has to fulfill, a task that is supposed to ensure interoperability. The Continua logo will certify that data coming out of a medical device is safely delivered to the medical records and those able to operate them. An organization performing the function of an official law enforcing body. How can they accomplish that? By adding as many companies as possible, out of the market players or enablers. Not the straightforward, politically accepted way but a way that has proved efficient. It was successful with Bluetooth, it will undoubtedly work even better with BT LE since experience is a good learning source. Now the only danger is that the market might turn the tables and go against the current, as Gianluca mentioned in this post, refusing all guiding measures the companies enforce to control the outcome.