A new Standards Q&A Forum will promote more interactive discussion between the experts creating ICT standards and those applying them. The pilot project has been launched to enable the submission of queries on all aspects of ITU-T Recommendations, in particular from developing countries.
 
Alongside the transfer of knowledge to developing nations, industry members in the developed world gain an opportunity to tap into new markets; making their products and services known to rapidly growing markets in developing nations.
 
The open, moderated forum will focus on the standardization work of ITU and offers participants a unique opportunity to engage with the experts that develop the standards underpinning ICT. An FAQ section introduces strangers to standardization and the ITU-T, covering all manner of questions from, “Why do we need international standards?,” to, “How does the ITU-T decide what needs standardization?” The forum is then organized into the major themes or questions being dealt with by ITU-T study groups.
 

In the context of ITU-T's efforts to address climate change issues, Study Group 15 will hold three tutorials on energy saving techniques during its February meeting.

A checklist for developers of standards is already under development in SG 15. The technologies considered in the list include optical transport networks and access network transport technologies such as digital subscriber line (DSL) and Gigabit-capable Passive Optical Networks (GPON). Together these technologies represent a significant consumption of energy worldwide. The idea is that the checklist is applied before the work commences, during the work and after the completion of the work. The use of the checklist should ideally be complemented by involving energy efficiency experts and users in the process.

The tutorials to be held 13, 14 and 15 February will look at the checklist as well as topics such as energy efficient Ethernet and opportunities and techniques for power saving in DSL and PON. A general introduction to the issues surrounding ICTs and climate change, (to be addressed in two upcoming ITU Symposia on ICTs and Climate Change), and an update on the outcome of the UN Climate Change Conference in Bali, December 2007, will be included.

Click here for a document detailing some ITU-T highlights for 2007.

An Information Note from the ITU IS Department is available to help you configure your laptop for the ITU's Wireless LAN.

• ITU's Wireless LAN facilities for Delegates NEW! [Ver.10 Updated 28.11.2007]

See the EWM FAQs page

Next meeting of TSAG - Telecommunication Standardization Advisory Group

Geneva, 3-7 December 2007

Registration Form

See TSB Collective-letter 5/TSAG for more information.

TSAG Home

Standards produced by ITU — ITU-T Recommendations — are now available without charge. The announcement follows a highly successful trial conducted from January−October 2007, during which some two million ITU-T Recommendations were downloaded throughout the world.

The experiment’s aim was to “increase the visibility and easy availability of the output of ITU-T”. Offering standards for free is a significant step for the standards community as well as the wider information and communication technologies (ICT) industry. Now, anyone with Internet access will be able to download one of over 3000 ITU-T Recommendations that underpin most of the world’s ICT. The move further demonstrates ITU’s commitment to bridging the digital divide by extending the results of its work to the global community.

Director of ITU’s Telecommunication Standardization Bureau (TSB) Malcolm Johnson, presenting the results of the trial to the 2007 meeting of ITU’s Council, said that not only had the experiment been a success in raising awareness of ITU-T, it would also attract new members. Most importantly, he noted, it had helped efforts to bridge the “standardization gap” between countries with resources to pursue standardization issues and those without. “There has been very positive feedback from developing countries,” said Johnson. “Last year exactly 500 ITU-T Recommendations had been sold to developing countries; this year, after allowing free access, they have downloaded some 300 000.”

ITU-T Recommendations are developed in a unique contribution-driven and consensus-based environment by industry and government members, with industry providing the most significant input. A strong focus of current standards work is providing the foundations for the so-called next-generation network (NGN). Other key areas include IPTV, ICT in vehicles, cybersecurity, quality of service, multimedia, emergency communications and standards for access, such as VDSL 2 — very high speed digital subscriber line 2, the newest and most advanced standard of DSL broadband wireline communications.

The group that looks at outside plant and related indoor installations in ITU-T, Study Group 6, met in Geneva during May. Five new standards (ITU-T Recommendations) will be published as a result. Delegates also looked into a possible restructuring of the group that can be presented to ITU-T's quadrennial World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly (WTSA) to take place in the last quarter of 2008.

In addition, the meeting saw the presentation of the first draft of a guide for developing countries on how to implement its standards. The guide, drawing on the work of the world's key experts in the field, will become an invaluable resource for service providers in developing and, in particular least developed countries. Completion of the first edition is expected for November this year.

As well as the traditional technical discussions within the working groups, a technical tutorial session was held on fibre to the home (FTTH) experiences in China, Spain, US, and Italy. Experts say that this is important for delegates to SG 6 given the fact that FTTH deployments will mean more sophisticated equipment needs to be provisioned outside the central office. A common observation was that the right solutions, in particular for the implementation of the optical fibre infrastructure, need to be cost effective not only in themselves, but in a global view, taking into account the entire product lifecycle, including installation and, above all, maintenance issues.

One new Recommendation reached the final stage of ITU-T approval. ITU-T's L-series Recommendations have long been a reference for owners of optical fibres. The new ITU-T Rec. L.66 gives maintenance criteria for in-service optical cable testing in the outside plant without disrupting normal network operation.

Two Recommendations achieving the first stage of approval - known as Consent - detail safety in high-power optical cables and protection of active electronics in outside plant. Also new in a series of Recommendations for the management of network elements in the outside plant is a document detailing the requirements for personal digital assistants (PDAs) as tools for inventory management. Finally, the Recommendation that defines the marking of optical cables used in shallow water , known as marinized terrestrial cables, has been brought up-to-date given the today's more widespread deployment of fibre.

Next meeting of Study Group 6 - Outside Plant and related indoor installations

Geneva, 14 - 18 May 2007

Registration Form

See TSB Collective-letter 4/6 for more information.

Study Group 6 Home

Next meeting of TSAG - Telecommunication Standardization Advisory Group (including meeting of the Seminar Coordination Committee (SCC))
 
Geneva, 26 February - 1 March 2007

Registration Form

See TSB Collective-letter 4/TSAG for more information.

TSAG Home

As part of celebrations for the 50^th anniversary of ITU-T, you are invited to vote for the most influential standards work from ITU-T.

ITU work is behind many of the worlds most prevalent information and communications technologies. Choose here from our shortlist which you think has best shaped the ICT world of today, or feel free to suggest your own idea.

With the agreement of the TSAG meeting 14-18 March 2005, a Joint Coordination Activity on Home Networking (JCA-HN) was established. Mr. Andrew Nunn (BT, UK) was appointed as the Convenor of this activity.

The scope of the JCA-HN was decided following a meeting held immediately after the ITU-T workshop Opportunities and Challenges in Home Networking, 13 – 14 October 2005, Geneva and discussions at the TSAG meeting 7-11 November 2005. The name “Home Network Initiative” will be used to describe work in this field spanning ITU-T Study Groups.

JCA-HN will:

• Co-ordinate the Home Network Initiative activity across all the relevant ITU-T Study Groups (e.g. currently ITU-T SGs 4, 5, 6, 9, 12, 13, 15, 16, 17) and liaise with relevant ITU-R SGs (currently, SGs 1 and 6).
• Seek cooperation from external bodies working in the field and disseminate information received from these bodies to the relevant ITU-T Study Groups.
• Identify what should be standardized by ITU-T
• Prepare a roadmap for this standardization activity

More on JCA-HN

Next meeting of Study Group 6 - Outside Plant and related indoor installations

Geneva, 12 - 16 December 2005

Registration Form

See TSB Collective-letter 2/6 for more information.

Study Group 6 Home