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2019 ITU Kaleidoscope Academic Conference

deployment of OCF specifications. The reference [6], loss of productivity and motivation at work [7], and
implementation of healthcare devices such as blood pressure violation of license policy [8].
monitors helps developers to install pre-written code very
quickly and allows them to test and enhance the software. 2.2 Governance, organization and the process of
innovation in open-source software projects
In this paper, the authors develop a case study of their efforts
to standardize healthcare IoT with IoTivity, with the OCF. Competitive dynamics enforced by open-source innovation
First, the authors conduct a literature review on open-source in organizations, from the governance perspective, has led to
innovation to provide a theoretical background to the case more interest and resolutions to better adoption. It was found
study. Second, the authors introduce the OCF, its policy that the share of corporate contributions is much larger in
called “3-pillar alignment” and IoTivity to illustrate what large and growing projects [9], which implies that the
open-source implementation means to the OCF. Third, the contributions of companies are growing in volume.
authors discuss how they proposed new healthcare devices
and data models and how they eventually published the first Meanwhile, the operational efficiency potential and business
healthcare devices in the OCF. Finally, the authors discuss agility of open-source adoption are expected to mitigate the
the benefits of taking advantage of IoTivity and how it led to difficulty of accepting new models for designing, developing,
the enhancement of standardization efficiency and testing and deploying network solutions to the
acceleration in healthcare IoT. telecommunications industry [10]. In this sense, the 2016
World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly
2. RELATED WORKS (WTSA-16) resolved that the Telecommunication
Standardization Advisory Group (TSAG) pursue their work
In this section, the authors review relevant literature and on the benefits and disadvantages of the implementation of
studies on open-source innovation to provide a theoretical open-source projects in relation to the work of the ITU
background to this paper. A large volume of research on Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T), as
open-source innovation has found that such organizational appropriate [11]. More general research on this subject was
principles and operational culture has attracted competent a review that authors provided a framework which classified
individuals and organizations. The authors mainly focus on six distinctly different ways in which organizations adopt
existing findings, especially to understand why open-source open-source software [12].
innovation and projects attract people and organizations. The
review helps us understand why the OCF has put a particular Based on the common understanding of open-source
emphasis on taking advantage of open-source projects to innovation and why they attract individuals, the authors
provide reference implementations of OCF specifications proceeded to discuss a specific case of the OCF on how they
since its establishment. took advantage of open-source projects to develop healthcare
standards.
2.1 Motivations of open-source software
contributors 3. INTRODUCTION TO OCF

Motivations of open-source software contributors have In this section, the OCF, its unique policy called "3-pillar
always been the leading interest for research on open-source alignment" and its open-source project “IoTivity” are
innovation. These studies on open-source innovation introduced to provide a basic understanding of the OCF.
claimed that the popularity growth of open-source products
and platforms from various perspectives are: career concern 3.1 OCF
[1], ego gratification incentive [2] that motivate
programmers to participate in open-source projects, and Founded in 2014, the OCF comprises of over 400 member
organization and process of innovation [3]. These authors companies including Samsung Electronics, Intel, LG
commonly stressed that the success of an open-source Electronics, and Qualcomm to provide an IoT framework
project is attributed to its modularity, fun challenges to that works in various vertical domains including smart home,
pursue and credible leadership. healthcare, etc. [13] The OCF aims to provide
interoperability among IoT devices not only in the OCF
There also have been studies which summarized five ecosystem but also outside OCF boundaries to support
characteristics that have led to the proliferation of multi- multiple verticals. Legacy vertical services are traditionally
disciplinary research with regard to open-source innovation. designed as silos where there are no universal ways to
They include impact, transparency, theoretical tension, interwork between them. However, the OCF sets its goals to
communal reflexivity and proximity [4]. It is noted that specify and provide a foundational middleware platform for
open-source licenses are designed to ensure the rights of heterogeneous vertical applications. They develop technical
future users against appropriation [5]. Nevertheless, there are specifications to provide a foundational architecture, security,
significant advantages to open source whereby resources and bridging and other requirements, which in turn allow devices,
contributors involved in innovation are widely distributed regardless of manufacturers, to communicate between
throughout the globe. However, other studies have stressed themselves. Table 1 describes the list of OCF specifications
the drawbacks of open-source innovation such as free-riding and OCF healthcare devices that the authors proposed and

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