Main
GSC-3 Kyongju Meeting
GSC-3 Final Report
GSC-EDH #10/8
Resolutions
Communique
Brief Report of the RAST-4
Final Report of the RAST-4 (RTF)





Third Global Standards Collaboration Meeting
Kyongju, Korea, 3-5 September 1996

The ancient city of Kyongju was the site this week for discussions on the Global Information Infrastructure, the convergence of radiocommunications, telecommunications, and information technology, and a shared vision of the future emerged. A meeting of the Global Standards Collaboration brought together senior representatives of the world telecommunications standards organizations for a three-day meeting. Key issues were addressed in the pursuit of worldwide standardization.
In his opening remarks the chairman Dr. Kang (TTA) said The world is now in the process of a revolution, and the central force behind this revolution is the rapid advancement of information technology and telecommunications. It is my firm belief that standardization of equipment, systems, networks will be a key factor to make the ongoing revolution truly global, meaningful and beneficial to mankind."

The meeting was the third of the Global Standards Collaboration, and the sixth in a series of such events held since 1990. The goal is to further the informal linkage among senior officials from the national, regional and international standards bodies in support of the work of the International Telecommunication Union. The meeting was hosted by the Telecommunications Technology Association of Korea.

The Global Standards Collaboration provides a framework for the exchange of information and setting of future directions aimed at accelerating the process of global telecommunications standards development and to promote interconnectivity and interoperability. Fifty Seven representatives from the Participating Standardization Organizations (PSO), the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI), from the United States was the Committee T1 and the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA), the Telecommunication Technology Committee (TTC) from Japan, the Telecommunications Technology Association (TTA) of Korea, the Telecommunications Standards Advisory Council of Canada (TSACC), and the Australian Telecommunication Standardization Committee (ATSC) and the representative of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). Invited guests from the ISO/IEC Joint Technical Committee 1 (Information Technology) and the Association of Radio Industries and Businesses (ARIB) of Japan and observers from the participating countries and regions were also in attendance.

The group endorsed the continued role of the Global Standards Collaboration in promoting co-operation and coordination in support of the ITU and among the Participating Standards Organizations. It heard reports from two meetings held prior to the Global Standards Collaboration, one on Electronic Document Handling and the other from the informal group on global RAdio STandardization (RAST).

Some of the major areas of discussion concerned the individual approaches by the worldwide organizations to the convergence between radiocommunications, telecommunications, and information technology, and the continuing need to share information among Participating Standards Organizations in order to reduce delays in the production and distribution of standards.

A report from the Telecommunication Standardization Sector of ITU, was received announcing the main objectives for the forthcoming World Telecommunication Standardization Conference (WTSC) in October 1996, in Geneva. As an outcome of the GSC-3 deliberations, some comments on specific issues as well as indications of strong support were conveyed to the Director.

The meeting discussed the status and promotion of collaborative work within each of the Participating Standards Organizations on the High Interest Subjects (Broadband ISDN, Intelligent Networks/Wireless Intelligent Networks, Telecommunications Management Network, Mobility (Universal Personal Telecommunications/Future Public Land Mobile Telecommunications Service), and Multimedia), and approaches to Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs), and conformity assessment/quality of standards. The importance of consumer and user involvement in standardization was again stressed.

A principal topic at GSC-3 was the Global Information Infrastructure, and more particularly the role of standards and standards organizations in promoting its use as a backbone for commercial trade on a global scale unhampered by differing national implementations. Emphasis was given to encouraging dialogue and convergence of ideas at the international level between the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), and the ITU and to promoting dialogue with other standards organizations, as sources of expertise and support for developing standards for the Global Information Infrastructure.

Another important area concerned the role of forums and consortia. Attendees were provided with the 1996 version of a comprehensive survey on telecommunications-related forums prepared by TTC of Japan. This report presents the results of extensive research by TTC and provides an invaluable source of information for the participating standards organizations in their efforts on cooperation with forums. Further sharing of information will take place. It was agreed that information exchange between the forums and consortia and the standards organizations is essential to support identification of user needs and, in some cases, to contribute to the development of standards.

Discussion about the Global Information Infrastructure, conformity assessment/quality of standards, Intellectual Property Rights, the existing and new High Interest Subjects will be continued at the next meeting to be hosted by ETSI in Nice from March 30 to April 3, 1998. In the interim, members will exchange further information on the key issues discussed at Kyongju. As the outgoing host of the meeting, TTA will provide the interim Secretariat for GSC. Information exchange will be facilitated by a newly established GSC World Wide Web Server. Information on the GSC-3 meeting can be found at the TTA web site (www.tta.or.kr).