Standards Bodies: What Are They and Why Do I Care?

We all have heard of standards and use them in our daily lives, but do we really know how they are developed and adopted? Most people do not. VTM Group lives and breathes in this space alongside major hi-tech companies world-wide.

Whether it’s the Universal Serial Bus (USB), or the Blu-ray Disc Association, or the Car Connectivity Consortium, or International Organization of Standardization (ISO), a standards body is an organization that serves as a “bridge” between the public and private sectors. They are typically established for a limited period and have a lifecycle in order to achieve the organization’s goal and objectives. The organizations enable members world-wide to come to a consensus and jointly promote the development of protocols, specifications or frameworks that meet the needs of businesses and users.

Without standards, we would not know if our TV would interoperate with our phone, if our car’s head unit would mirror our phone, if our storage device would work in our computer and so on. We interact with the effects of standards every day. Standards also can help with emerging victorious in “wars” - consider the Blu-ray Disc versus the HD-DVD, or Netscape versus Internet Explorer web browsers. To businesses, standard bodies offer a way to engage and develop technology with competitors that could increase overall market share. To users, standard bodies offer a way to ensure your products’ interoperability, value and adoption. Standard bodies are a win-win for all.