IEEE standards: mechanizing the standardization process

The IEEE has underway currently an effort to mechanize the processes of developing, producing, and delivering consensus standards. The effort is built upon existing standards. Several important issues remain to be solved but the rewards and benefits to standardization are clear.     

Micro view. Clipper: soon a de facto standard?

Despite assurances to the contrary, the US government may put its buying power and political muscle into making a de facto commercial standard of the Clipper chip. As a hardware device implanted in telephones, Clipper and its associated key escrow system are designed to ensure the security of electronic communications against private adversaries, while also providing law enforcement and national security agencies with master keys for intercepting and decoding messages     

How standards enable adoption of project management practice

Standards affect the adoption of project management practices in three areas: deployment of practices in an organization, customer-supplier relationships, and the community of project management practitioners.     

Extending the model of internet standards adoption: A cross-country comparison of IPv6 adoption

Internet standards are very important for the effective operation of organizations. This study extends on the model of Internet standards adoption by examining the effect of organizational factors on adoption of Internet standards across different cultures. We propose attitude, top management support, and participation as important organizational factors influencing Internet standards adoption. Surveys were conducted in Australia and China, and the results show that organizational factors indeed play an important role in Internet standards adoption. Moreover, the effects of organizational factors are significantly different between the two countries. Discussion and implications of these findings are provided to conclude this study.     

家庭网络标准化状况及主要标准组织比较

家庭网络的技术标准是家电、计算机、通信和多媒体等多个领域交叉的产物,而家庭网络技术的较大发展必然需要标准的引导和规范,尤其是涉及多个领域的技术,标准化建设就显得尤为重要。文章通过全面分析比较三个主要家庭网络标准组织的不同背景、不同目标、不同侧重点和不同进展,阐述了家庭网络的标准化现状和未来的发展。     

OODBTG workshop on standards position paper: data exchange issues for standardization

The lack of a generally accepted definition of what constitutes an OODBMS is cited as a reason why full OODB standards are not yet practical. Research into areas that will be needed to support such a standard is encouraged. The major focus is on formats and methods for data exchange between OODBMS. Two major approaches are discussed. One is a passive format for simple data exchange, the other is based in the client/server architecture and allows for the enforcement of semantic constraints in the exchange.     

A model of Internet standards adoption: the case of IPv6

Abstract. The Internet presents a unique environment in which to study adoption. This is because of its composition of autonomous entities that are otherwise strongly interrelated. Our model of Internet standards adoption (ISA) combines diffusion of innovation and economics of adoption literature to present an integrative model. This model proposes that the adoption of Internet‐based standards is dependent upon two dimensions: the usefulness of the features to the potential adopter, and the conduciveness of the environment to adoption of the standard. This model accounts for not only the traditional dichotomous view of adoption, but also includes the notion of ‘partial adoption’, where both old and new standards can coexist for extended periods of time. As a demonstration, we apply the ISA model to the next generation Internet protocol Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6). Despite its ostensible superiority, IPv6 has not been widely adopted. In this paper we discuss the reasons why this might be the case. Our analysis also draws wider conclusions about the adoption of Internet standards: in particular, the importance of transitional technologies between the old and new standards and the need for co‐ordinated government polices which encourage adoption. Our analysis also indicates that geopolitical boundaries may have a considerable impact on the adoption of Internet standards.     

Factors explaining adoption and implementation processes for web accessibility standards within eGovernment systems and organizations

Local government organizations such as municipalities often seem unable to fully adopt or implement web accessibility standards even if they are actively pursuing it. Based on existing adoption models, this study identifies factors in five categories that influence the adoption and implementation of accessibility standards for local government websites. Awareness of these factors is important for stakeholders adopting and implementing web accessibility standards. To further develop and understand these factors, this study has identified and interviewed experts in the field of (organizational) accessibility. This has led to an extension of the existing models. The extended model was then validated by interviews with key stakeholders. The outcome of this study places existing adoption models in a new context. The result is an adoption model that contributes better to explaining adoption and implementation processes within eGovernment systems and organizations. This adoption model aims to better help local governments in the identification of factors influencing the actual adoption and implementation of web accessibility standards in their situation. The model explains how factors in the different categories contribute to the adoption and implementation of web accessibility standards. The model may also be applicable to the adoption and implementation of other guidelines and (open) standards within local government.     

Another update on standardization skullduggery

This is an update on the May-June and July-August Micro Law columns on recent abuse of the standard-setting process. On 9 August, the trial judge entered about 200 pages of final orders and opinions in the case. The next day, Rambus filed a notice of appeal to the US court of appeals for the Federal Circuit, which will probably take at least a year to dispose of the appeal case. Barring the unexpected, this should be the last you hear about this particular episode of standardization skullduggery for a long time. However, there seems to be no let-up in standardization skullduggery by others. As you may recall, a jury in Richmond, Virginia, found that Rambus, with the aid of a mysterious informant designated Secret Squirrel, defrauded the JEDEC Solid State Technology Association (formerly, the Joint Electronic Devices Engineering Council) and, the dynamic RAM industry. Infineon had alleged that Rambus, manipulated its claims in pending patent applications to cover the evolving JEDEC standards on single-data-rate (SDR) and double-data-rate (DDR) synchronous dynamic RAM (SDRAM) chips. After JEDEC issued the patents and published the standards, Rambus demanded that SDRAM manufacturers take high-priced licenses under the patents. Patent infringement litigation followed when three manufacturers (Infineon, Micron, and Hyundai), refused to take licenses. Infineon's case went to trial first, which led to the fraud verdict. Rambus filed papers with the court explaining why it was not guilty of fraud and asking the court to overturn the verdict and enter in its favor a judgment as a matter of law (JMOL). A JMOL is a judgment that a court enters to overturn a jury verdict because the court believes that no reasonable jury could have reached such a verdict     

Ensuring finite moments in Monte Carlo simulations via iterated ex post facto sampling

Monte Carlo simulations may involve skewed, heavy-tailed distributions. When variances of those distributions exist, statistically valid confidence intervals can be obtained using the central limit theorem, providing that the simulation is run “long enough.” If variances do not exist, however, valid confidence intervals are difficult or impossible to obtain. The main result in this paper establishes that upon replacing ordinary Monte Carlo sampling of such heavy-tailed distributions with ex post facto sampling, estimates having finite moments of all orders are ensured for the most common class of infinite variance distributions. We conjecture that this phenomenon applies to all distributions (having finite means) when the ex post facto process is iterated.     

Transitioning international software engineering standards to academia: Analyzing the results of the adoption of ISO/IEC 29110 in four Mexican universities

Software standards, targeted for the software industry, were developed to contribute to the development of quality products within budget and schedule, by optimizing efforts and resources. For small companies, the largest percentage of software companies in Mexico, they are fundamental for their growth and survival. However, academic programs do not always match industry requirements. In previous studies, the curricula in Computer Science and Informatics, and Software Engineering, of 4 Mexican universities, were compared with two software industry standards: the MoProSoft standard, a Mexican standard designed for organizations having up to 50 people and the Basic profile of the ISO/IEC 29110 developed specifically for organizations having up to 25 people. The analysis of the academic programs showed a better coverage of ISO/IEC 29110 than MoProSoft. In this paper, these two standards are mapped to understand the results of the analysis in detail and provide recommendations regarding academic programs. The analysis provides an evidence that the processes of the Basic profile of ISO/IEC 29110 are better covered by the universities curricula because the processes provides the minimal set of practices to be performed while a project is executed from the beginning until the delivery of a software. In addition, this mapping presents a clear differentiation between these two standards that might help Software Development Centers to understand where to start in the implementation of one of them.     

Update on cobol standards

In May cobol was 25 years old. A new cobol standard is expected soon, but its development has been controversial. The article describes how the standard is developed, what are the main features of the new standard, why it has been controversial, and what may be expected in the future.     

Progress in open systems standardization

Standardization of open systems interconnection (OSI) has been in progress for several years. Two major meetings at the end of 1983 consolidated recent efforts. In this paper the current status of the OSI work is reviewed and some future developments are predicted.