The role of standards

1991, Computer Standards & Interfaces

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8 pages

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Abstract

The Data Base Systems Study Group of Accredited Standards Committee X3 has initiated efforts that will lead to an eventual international standard in object-oriented data base systems. This work will require the coordination of current X3 committees H2 Data Languages and H4 Information Resource Management Dictionary within X3 as well as coordination with other standards development committees outside X3 but included in the ANSI interface with ISO through the JTC1 TAG.

Figures (9)

Fig. 1. Evolving database-related standards. An important point: standards and standardi- zation, as used in this discussion means voluntary, consensus-developed standards which are readily available to any vendor or user, are changed only Database-related standards share the dynamic nature of information technology and evolve rapidly along with the technology. The current dramatic changes in information technology in- crease the importance of standards. Standards provide the discipline necessary to ensure orderly evolution from technological improvement to technological improvement. At each stage of tech- nology improvement, standards provide a stable

Fig. 2. US Domestic standards processing. Readers should realize that the following de- scription applies to the United States and may not reflect their own country’s procedures. First, we list the important information technology interna- tional organizations (Fig. 3). The International Standards Organization (ISO), located in Geneva, Switzerland, is an independent organization to support international standardization through the publication of International Standards or Interna- tional Standardized Profiles in all areas except electrical and electronic engineering (see IEC, be- low). ISO consists of national representatives only and seeks the organization that is ‘most repre- sentative’. The United States Government has no ‘official’ representation in ISO, but the American National Standards Institute is accepted by ISO How does the US standardization activities in- teract with the international standardization pro- cess? The United States government has com- mitted, as a signatory to the General Agreement for Trade and Tariffs (GATT), to prefer interna- tional standards whenever they exist. This com- mitment, however, does not set aside the volun- tary nature of US standardization. The concern that information technology standards could be used as non-tariff trade barriers suggests that if everyone uses the commonly available ISO stan- dards then every vendor will have an equal op- portunity. Consequently, as shown in Fig. 2, US Industry and Government contribute to an inter-

Fig. 4. JTC1 organizational chart. The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) organized itself to shadow the ISO organi-

Fig. 5. Organizational chart for X3. The DBSSG has several task groups, as shown in Fig. 8, to assist it in arriving at recommenda- tions [6]. The work reported in this Special Volume resulted from the Object-Oriented Database Task Group. The DBSSG follows a specific life cycle in developing its recommendations (Fig. 9). The stages have overlapping activities. In the concep- tion stage, the DBSSG identifies requirements, We can summarize all of this into the specific steps that the US takes to reach consensus with ISO on database standards as shown in Fig. 7.

Fig. 7. International processing for database-related standards.

Fig. 9. Life cycle of IT voluntary standards. functional standards, conformance tests, and ini- defines reference models, and examines base standards. During the development stages, the ref- erence models are refined. In the same stage, functional standards, conformance tests, and ini-