A collection of over 100 information technology standards has just been made available online at a special reduced rate during a market trial to promote the use of IT standards developed by ISO (International Organization for Standardization) and IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission).
The standards comprise an integrated and comprehensive collection chosen from the output of the joint technical committee, ISO/IEC JTC 1, Information technology. They are available in electronic format, online at a special flat rate of 44 Swiss francs from the end of January 2002 until the end of the year.
More than 2 100 technical experts are currently actively involved in the work of ISO/IEC JTC 1 which develops, maintains, promotes and facilitates information technology standards required by global markets. For these to remain timely, competitive and at the cutting edge of technology, it is important that they meet the rapidly evolving needs of the global information technology market.
The ISO/IEC JTC 1 market trial is intended to look at ways of improving the interface between the availability of standards and the industry needs they serve, as well as to look at potential new commercial approaches to meet both ISO and IEC member and customer needs for a more efficient and cost-effective way to purchase and obtain ISO/IEC JTC 1 standards.
"The key objective of the one year trial is to investigate potential commercial models for offering ISO/IEC JTC 1 standards priced not on their respective number of pages, but on a new model and driven by market expectations," said Keith Brannon, Chief Technical Programme Manager responsible for ISO/IEC JTC 1. "By experimenting with a new commercial approach and offering significantly reduced prices for electronic copies of some of its standards, we are confident that the market trial will help increase the global recognition of ISO/IEC JTC 1 standards development."
ISO and IEC members' interests are best served by the widest possible distribution and consequent implementation of its standards. ISO/IEC JTC 1 feels this could be made possible through the availability of its standards at nominal prices which could further increase accessibility and distribution of ISO/IEC JTC 1 standards and achieve greater utilization of these standards by the information technology community.
"In ISO/IEC JTC 1, we want to be sure that we are meeting the needs of end users - ISO and IEC members and customers - and the market trial project will do this by testing a different approach to pricing these market-oriented standards," further noted Keith Brannon.
On completion of the trial, the ISO/IEC JTC 1 Market Trial Project Team will study the results and opinions gathered and deliver its recommendations to ISO and IEC Councils in the first half of 2003.
The collection of standards selected for the market trial, along with other ISO/IEC JTC 1 standards, are available from ISO and IEC members (see complete list of ISO members, while IEC members may be found on www.iec.ch) and from ISO Central Secretariat: customerservice@iso.org, and at the IEC Central Office at custserv@iec.ch, while more information on ISO/IEC JTC 1 can be found on its Web site, www.jtc1.org.
