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ISO Fo c u s The Magazine of the International Organization for Standardization Volume 3, No. 2, February 2006, ISSN 1729-8709

Inn vation and standardization

• IT service management • Personal financial planning Contents

1 Comment Prof. Masami Tanaka, ISO President How standards nurture innovation in the cold light of dawn 2 World Scene Highlights of events from around the world 3 ISO Scene Highlights of news and developments from ISO members 4 Guest View Terry Hill, Chair of Arup ISO Focus is published 11 times a year (single issue : July-August). 8 It is available in English. Main Focus Annual subscription 158 Swiss Francs Individual copies 16 Swiss Francs Innovation and standardization

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Manager : Anke Varcin Editor : Elizabeth Gasiorowski-Denis • Strategic standardization – Can standardization help businesses ? Assistant Editor : Antoinette Price • Nanotechnologies – Driving the next industrial revolution ? Artwork : Pascal Krieger and Pierre Granier • STEP – Supporting innovation in the global market ISO Update : Dominique Chevaux • ebXML – When innovation really matters Subscription enquiries : Sonia Rosas Friot • RFID – A technology whose time has come ! ISO Central Secretariat • Revamping the supply chain with RFID Telephone + 41 22 749 03 36 • The most human-like test dummy to improve vehicle safety Fax + 41 22 749 09 47 • Biometrics – Rising to the challenge of technology innovation E-mail [email protected] • Cards for all seasons © ISO, 2006. All rights reserved. • MPEG – Constantly creating new ways for digital audio and video • The paradox of standardization and innovation The contents of ISO Focus are copyright st and may not, whether in whole or in • Fine ceramics – A new materials industry for the 21 century part, be reproduced, stored in a retrieval • ISO/IEC policy on reference to patented items system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without 48 Developments and Initiatives written permission of the Editor. • Information security management systems The articles in ISO Focus express the views • ISO prevents misuse of its name on Internet of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of ISO or of any of its members. 51 New this month ISSN 1729-8709 • IT service management • Personal financial planning • Graphical Printed in Switzerland symbols for equipment and diagrams Cover photo : ISO. 53 Coming up

ISO Focus February 2006 Comment How standards nurture innovation in the cold light of dawn

any a flash of inspiration, many standards help great ideas to survive the Global challenges need global a hot, new idea, when exam- contact with practical realities and support solutions and ISO, through its national Mined in the cold light of dawn their growth to maturity as “manufactur- members and organizations in liaison, has is found to face serious practical barriers able and marketable” products. a unique framework for bringing together to their implementation. Brilliant ideas for ISO’s track record provides the international expertise that can devel- innovative products and technologies can numerous examples. To take one from op these solutions, and for disseminating be so far ahead of their time that even a the IT field, the MPEG series of stand- them in an orderly and effective manner. commonly understood terminology for ards for the digital coding of audio and ISO standards also ensure that innovative communicating them may be lacking. visual signals has encouraged the growth solutions can be transferred to develop- However, for brain-storming of business sectors offering thousands ing countries so that the benefits are also new ideas and bringing them to market of new products and services in such available on a global basis. in record time, few business areas can areas as digital television and photo- Innovative technologies, inter- rival information technology. Fittingly graphy, mobile telephones, music via connectivity and global availability raise therefore, it was Watts Humphreys, a key the Web and personal audio. issues related to intellectual property thinker on the management of software rights. By allowing patent technolo- development, who said: “Innovation is “ Global challenges need gies to be embedded and signalled in its the process of turning ideas into manu- global solutions” standards, under fair and non-discrimi- facturable and marketable form.” natory conditions, ISO is ensuring the A similar point was made by Standardization ensures agree- continuing interplay between innova- Theodore Leavitt, the Harvard Business ment about essential characteristics tion and standardization, and that great School professor and author who as early such as terminology, safety, perform- ideas are brought to market. as 1973 made the connection between ance, compatibility and interoperabil- ISO standards ensure that innova- standardization and the then unfamiliar ity. This creates the conditions for new tion survives the reality test. For innova- term of “globalization”, when he said: markets to take root and grow, while tion, standardization transforms the cold “Creativity is thinking up new things. allowing individual organizations free light of dawn into a bright new day. Innovation is doing new things.” rein to their creativity in developing dif- Today, the need for creativity and ferentiated product offerings. innovation is being recognized not only If standardization really stifled in business and academic circles, but innovation in business and technology – by the world’s political and econom- as some mistakenly believe – ISO would ic leaders, as indicated by the choice not in recent years have welcomed new of “The Creative Imperative” as the industries such as nanotechnologies, theme for this year’s World Econom- hydrogen technologies, and health and ic Forum, which took place last month transport informatics. These sectors have at Davos, Switzerland. The organizers turned to ISO for the international stand- stated: “It is imperative that we learn ards they need to facilitate the dissemi- how to unleash our creative potential to nation of innovative technologies and to tackle the world’s problems.” help structure markets for them. We in ISO have something to con- Today’s products are increasingly tribute. Our speciality is developing stand- the culmination of global supply chains ards that provide the link between “cre- that need to be aligned. Early standard- ative potential” (great ideas) and “tack- ization of basic, essential characteris- Prof. Masami Tanaka ling problems” (practical implementa- tics of products allows this alignment ISO President tion). Standardization begins with a cre- to take place efficiently and effectively. ative vision: to transform valued criteria In today’s interconnected world, Inter- such as quality, ecology, safety, economy, national Standards can provide interna- reliability, compatibility, interoperabili- tionally harmonized solutions to global ty, efficiency and effectiveness into real challenges that are too large for any one attributes of products and services. ISO company to solve on its own.

ISO Focus February 2006 1 World Scene

Global harmonization with particular focus on con- World water forum of medical devices formity assessment procedures th and information sharing. The 4 World Water Forum will

The Globalization Harmonization © ISO be held in Mexico City on 16-22 ISO made a presentation, which Task Force (GHTF) met in London bodies in regulations, and a March 2006, under the theme of emphasized the fact that the use at the end of 2005, where its greater effort to link develop- “ Local Actions for a Global of International Standards by steering committee endorsed a ment assistance for programmes Challenge ” and will focus on developing countries would number of important documents for developing countries. analysis of experiences and which can now go forward for ensure that they maximized their knowledge sharing. benefits from the WTO TBT Nearly one third of the more public comment, including The 4th World Water Forum is a guidance on the principles of agreement. than 100 representatives from governments, standards and con- step along the way to achieving conformity assessment for medical Participants from 15 Caribbean formity assessment bodies, inter- the water-related Millennium devices, emphasizing GHTF’s countries attended the workshop, national organizations and Development Goals. support for the use of quality which also updated officials on non-govermental organizations management systems. current issues in the TBT com- By focusing on implementation attending were from developing mittee, in order to promote a and building on policy recom- countries. more effective participation in mendations that will come out its work and fulfill its goal of For more information, see : of the commission of sustainable providing a forum for exchanging www.oecd.org development process in 2005, views on TBT issues. the main objective of the Forum is to contribute to strengthen and The WTO and the Caribbean Harmonizing leather increase on-site actions. Community (CARICOM) Secretar- testing procedures

© ISO The Forum’s iat organized the workshop as part The International Union of An ISO presentation highlighted preparatory of the WTO’s technical assistance Leather Technologists and the increasing demand for Inter- activities will programme for 2005, which was Chemists Societies (IULTCS) national Standards and for be used to funded by its Global Trust Fund, and ISO entered into a Memo- GHTF, the importance of its identify the established in 1999 to receive randum of Understanding in continued work with ISO and major diffi- extra-budgetary donations from its December 2005, intended to its World Standards Corporation culties and members in order to finance enhance cooperation between (WSC) partners, the Interna- constraints technical cooperation activities. the two organizations in the tional Electrotechnical Com- to this proc- For more information, see : development of International mission (IEC) and the Interna- ess. Relevant www.wto.org Standards for the determination tional Telecommunication local actions © ISO of certain properties and charac- Union (ITU), within the field of that could be duplicated and teristics of leather. ISO and medical devices. Standards and conformity intensified will be selected and assessment in trade IULTCS first established a presented during the Forum. The GHTF was launched in working agreement in 1990. 1992 in response to the growing ISO representatives participated The first Forum was held in 1) Many International Standards or need for international harmoni- in a workshop held by InWEnt Morocco (1997), the second in technical specifications are zation in the regulation of safe- on behalf of the German govern- The Netherlands (2000) and the already based on IULTCS test ty and performance of medical ment and the Organisation for third in Japan (2003). The methods. In the new agreement devices. It comprises senior Economic Co-operation and Forum has already been estab- outlined by the MoU, the officials and industry represent- Development in Berlin, Germa- lished as an open, multi-stake- IULTCS confirmed its continu- atives in medical devices from ny, at the end of 2005, on stand- holder participatory process, ing commitment to work with Australia, Canada, Europe, ards and conformity assessment. which builds on the knowledge, ISO to harmonize leather testing Japan and the USA. The workshop was aimed at experience and input of the glo- procedures and to combine bal water community and seeks This meeting also marked the enhancing dialogue between expert resources, in order to developing and developed coun- to enable multi-stakeholder par- enhanced cooperation between improve the efficiency of the ticipation and dialogue to influ- the GHTF and representatives tries on market access and the standardization process and issues related to technical barriers ence water policy-making at a from ISO, the World Health avoid duplication of work. local, regional, national and Organization, and the Asian to trade, particularly the removal The IULTCS is a global forum global level, thus ensuring Harmonization Working Party. of non-tariff barriers created by technical regulations, standards for scientific debate for the better living and respect for the For more information, see : and conformity assessment. leather tanning industry. principles of sustainable devel- www.ghtf.org For more information, see : opment to achieve the Millenni- A major goal of the meeting was um Development Goals. to extract lessons from accumu- www. iultcs.org WTO meeting in Trinidad lated experience and decide on ISO/TC 224, Service activities and Tobago how to move forward. Some Prof. Jaume Cot (left), President of IULTCS, relating to drinking water supply signing the MoU in December 2005, with systems and wastewater systems The World Trade Organization suggestions included encourag- Alan Bryden, Secretary-General of ISO. – Quality criteria of the service (WTO) held a workshop in Port ing governments to recognize and performance indicators, will of Spain in Trinidad and Tobago voluntary, multi-lateral recogni- hold a topic session during the at the end of 2005, to assist tion agreements between test forum to discuss its activities. developing countries to consoli- laboratories and accreditation date knowledge of the principles For more information, see : 1) InWEnt – Internationale Weiter- and disciplines of the Technical bildung und Entwicklung (Capacity www.worldwaterforum4.org

Barriers to Trade (TBT) agreement, Building International, Germany). © ISO

2 ISO Focus February 2006 ISO Scene

for the use of quality systems in Consumers to explore technical committees, and asso- product certification as well as a impact of environmental ciated training needs. review of the standards in labeling A visit to the China National progress. Institute of Standardization pro- “Consumers and the environ- Participants endorsed the work vided the opportunity to discuss ment: do good principles for programme for 2006 and the the dissemination of ISO stand- products and services mean CASCO Roadmap 2010, which ards, and the benefits of promot- good practice?” is the theme for acts as an indication of future ing and increasing national the annual workshop planned by

© ISO CASCO work. adoptions. The contribution of ISO’s Committee on consumer 32nd plenary of ISO/TC 22 in Paris, France. China to the development of a The committee’s collaboration policy (COPOLCO) for 24 May multilingual database of terms with DEVCO, the ISO commit- 2006 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Vehicles committee revs up and definitions contained in ISO tee on developing countries, This workshop will examine standards was confirmed. nd includes joint regional work- The 32 plenary of ISO technical what labels and marks tell con- committee ISO/TC 22, whose shops. The next joint CASCO/

sumers about the impact of a © ISO DEVCO workshop is scheduled work concerns the international product’s life cycle on the envi- for 9-10 April 2006 in Jordan. standardization of road vehicles, ronment. It will also explore how was held on 23-25 November For more information, contact : standards can make a difference, 2005, in Paris, France. [email protected] and identify gaps where Interna- The meeting was highlighted by tional Standards are still needed. a keynote speech from Manuel J. Experts will consider current Gomez, President, President of consumer issues in environmen-

the French Automobile Manu- Krieger © ISO, P. tal and related labelling. They Minister Li Changjiang (right), General facturers Committee, who will review consumer education, Administration of Quality, Supervision, underlined the importance of Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ), with the processes and tools needed ISO Secretary-General Alan Bryden. international standardization for (From left to right) CASCO Secretary Peter to ensure confidence in labels, the world’s car manufacturers. Dennehy, ISO Secretary-General Alan Bryden, CASCO Chair Mario Wittner, Chair and what they represent. Partici- © ISO On the agenda was a review of of the Conformity Assessment Board (CAB) pants will also consider how the committee’s collaboration and IEC Vice-President Donald Keith Gray, standards can link with legislation CASCO project manager Joyce Bleeker. with other technical committees and industry codes of practice to and organizations. Updates were Joint ISO/IEC advisory meet the challenge of increasingly complex production and given by representatives of group on security the Society of Automotive Engi- disposal practices for products neers (SAE) and the World Trade The ISO/IEC Strategic Advisory and services in today’s world. SAC Administrator Liu Pingjun (5th from Organization. The UN Global Group on Security (SAG-S) left) and some of his collaborators with The workshop will be held just Alan Bryden, ISO Secretary-General, and, Road Safety Week and the tech- held its first meeting in Geneva, before the ISO COPOLCO Ple- (to his left), Béatrice Frey, Head, Bureau of nical committee’s action plan for Switzerland, at the end of 2005, nary (25-26 May 2006). A prac- the ISO Secretary-General. the event were also discussed. to determine whether existing tical training seminar addressing A special session was organized ISO/TC 22 has led to the publi- security management standards consumer issues in service to present the ISO patent policy, cation of 586 standards, with and initiatives in the field satisfy standards will also be held dur- involving major industries and almost 70 standards published in its recommendations for a ing that week. the corresponding ministries, in framework standard. 2005 alone. For more information, contact : a context where China wishes to Three subgroups were estab- [email protected] increase its contribution to the For more information, contact : development and dissemination [email protected] lished : the first to deal with the preparation of a first draft frame- of new technologies worldwide. work document, the second to China keen to increase A meeting with Minister Li CASCO plenary prepare a second draft of the participation in ISO and Changjiang, General Adminis- ISO/IEC security guidelines for use of ISO standards tration of Quality, Supervision, st The 21 plenary of the technical committees on the in- Inspection and Quarantine ISO Secretary-General Alan ISO Committee on conformity clusion of security aspects in (AQSIQ), confirmed that Bryden visited the Standards assessment (CASCO) brought standards, and the third to coor- increased resources are being Administration of China (SAC) together over 100 participants dinate technical assessment. allocated to raise China’s profile in December 2005. He also representing 38 countries in in the ISO system. An excellent It was also recommended that made contact with the Chinese Geneva, Switzerland, opportunity will soon be given to SAG-S create a liaison with the media and made presentations to in November 2005. illustrate achievements, as the use International Telecommunication stakeholders. On the agenda was a review of Union’s study group for tele- of ISO standards is being encour- the committee’s most recent communications for disaster Following the recently updated aged in the context of the prepa- publications, including ISO/IEC relief and early warning. Chinese standardization strategy, rations for the 2008 Olympic the wish and modalities for Games to be hosted by China, in 17040 for peer assessment, ISO/ First meeting of ISO/IEC Strategic Advisory IEC 17025 for competence of Group on Security in Geneva, Switzerland. increased Chinese involvement Beijing. Sessions held with Mr. testing and in ISO, and the promotion of the Liu Pingjun, SAC’s Administra- calibration use of ISO standards in China, tor, and his staff enabled the laboratories, were discussed, including parti- elaboration of a concrete action

and Guide 53 Krieger © ISO, P. cipation in, and support of ISO plan to follow up on this visit.

ISO Focus February 2006 3 Guest View Terry Hill

erry Hill is Chair own set of national or region- of Arup, al standards that meet local Ta global design and requirements – guidelines for business consultancy snow-loading on buildings, involved with such projects for example, are crucial to as the MG Rover sale, the Germany, yet have little rel- Channel Tunnel Rail Link evance to Hong Kong, Chi- and the award winning na. Therefore on individual Swiss Re building. His role projects, national standards is to ensure the delivery are often more appropriate of the best in building, to our needs than regional or infrastructure and International Standards. technology consulting to Where our relation- clients throughout the world, and he has made ship to standards becomes a successful career in Arup more complicated is that guiding the strategic fundamentally, we strive to direction of large, complex bring excellence, technical and challenging projects. competence and strength of skill to all they do, which fre- In November 2005, Terry quently involves challenging was appointed as founding the accepted consensus either Chairman of the at a national or international Construction Sector © Arup/Thomas Graham level. Because of this, we do Advisory Group (SAG), created by UK not have a policy within Arup insisting Trade & Investment (UKTI) to increase “ It is shortsighted for people conform to standards, aside from the prominence of UK construction in any company with an eye ISO 9001 and ISO 14001, although some established and emerging markets of our services, such as Vehicle Design, across the world. on becoming a global benefit from doing so. As a rule, our rep- Terry has a background in civil player, to ignore and fail to engineering and economics, and participate in International previously led Arup’s Infrastructure Division, where his role centred on Standards and their consulting, infrastructure and managing development.” major schemes. national Standards have enabled us to ISO Focus : As a world-leading con- devise a framework for our management sultancy, how do you see the role of systems and their environmental impact International Standards versus nation- measurements that allows us to oper- al, regional or industry standards as a ate to the same high level, consistently key to competing in global markets? throughout the company. They make it possible for us to create seamless working Terry Hill : Given the broad scope of groups throughout our group and support work Arup undertakes, we have an intense the holistic approach for which Arup is interest in standards, whether national, renowned – health and safety should be regional or international. From an opera- brought within the same scope. tional point of view, we apply ISO 9001 As consultants, we collaborate and ISO 14001 across our entire business, with clients throughout the world in

in 32 different countries. These Inter- vastly different markets, each with their © Arup

4 ISO Focus February 2006 utation has been earned through rigor- Terry Hill : Although it is not always Our founder, Ove Arup, instilled in the ous self-regulation. appropriate for us to apply them directly firm an ethos of helping shape a better International Standards can cre- to our work, we support the progressive world, and participating in the devel- ate a level playing field from a safety, harmonization of standards because they opment of standards is a practical way environmental and working practic- make it much easier to operate global- in which we can deliver real value to es point of view and provide a useful ly. The greater the base-level consensus this, while continuing to grow our own benchmark when operating in the glo- on International Standards, the easier it design and technical base by adding bal marketplace. However, in order to is to cite examples and offer clients a new skills and capabilities. operate effectively alongside clients, measure of the degree to which we are Our engineering work on Lon- suppliers and partners from across the trying to exceed them. don’s ground-breaking Millennium world, it is often more useful to refer We are proud to be world experts Bridge is a good example of how we to a set of localized working standards. in a broad range of engineering, plan- participate in the development of stand- Rather than creating a case for Interna- ning and consulting disciplines, and Arup ards. On completion, the bridge was tional Standards versus local standards, has constantly pushed these boundaries. found to have excessive pedestrian- I would argue that any global company induced sway, a phenomenon which should have an understanding of both was not covered by any engineering international and regional standards and standards or codes. Following the com- where the benchmark is too low to be pletion of research into the cause of the of practical use, exceed them. ‘ wobble ’, and the measures we took to

ISO Focus : According to the study published by the UK Department of Trade and Industry and the British Standards Institution (BSI), standards contribute GBP 2.5 billion per annum to the country’s economy. What are, in your view, the benefits of adopting International Standards and participating in their development ?

The Millenium Bridge in London, England.

Computer generation of how the Marina Thomas Graham Arup / © at Dongtan Eco-City, Shanghai, might look.

ISO Focus February 2006 5 Guest View © Hans Werlemann © Hans Central Television Tower in Beijing, China. “ If devised and worded in this sector look to us to help them appropriately, International achieve the required levels and gain the solve the problem. The team responsible Standards should serve edge over their competitors, as the bar authored a report setting out for the first is pushed ever-higher. time the theoretical and practical meth- to foster and harness One of the challenges that ISO odology by which designers can check innovation.” faces is the speed at which consensus their designs for this effect, thus lead- is achieved between its member bodies when agreeing new standards. The ing to safer and better footbridge designs ISO Focus : Global markets offer speed with which companies are able worldwide. We submitted this research many opportunities, but require inno- to innovate must be matched by the to be written into British and European vation to be successfully delivered. evolution of standards ; if it takes ten standards and, in turn, it will make its What is the role of standards for the years to adopt a worldwide standard, way into the ISO system. successful dissemination of innova- there is a danger that it will lag behind My experience to date indicates tion ? How does Arup promote the use the innovation as with the Millennium that this outlook is unique to Arup and of International Standards to antici- Bridge example, rather than spur the use it will not suit every company to share pate and conquer markets for products of new techniques and development of its research in this way ; however, it is and services ? shortsighted for any company with an fresh solutions. eye on becoming a global player, to Terry Hill : If set high enough, stand- Arup promotes International ignore and fail to participate in Inter- ards associated with performance and Standards almost as a by-product of national Standards and their develop- use can drive innovation, by setting the being an international organization that ment. We must take collective respon- challenge of meeting new requirements complies with, and exceeds, global and sibility for ensuring standards evolve at without affecting other aspects of a prod- local standards. an appropriate pace and that outdated uct or project – providing an opportuni- regulations are reviewed. If we don’t do ty to raise the game. This is certainly the ISO Focus : How can the use of ISO this, we will find ourselves in the sit- case with our Vehicle Design team who standards allow the UK construction uation where innovation and progress often work on single products that have industry sector to survive, innovate are stifled. to satisfy multiple markets. Our clients and grow in an ever changing world ?

6 ISO Focus February 2006 Arup Group Headquarters in Fitzrovia, London, Terry Hill : This comes back to the issue United Kingdom. of global markets and regional requirements. If the UK wants to effect change and have a positive impact on global developments, then the country’s construction industry must play an active role in using and contributing to ISO standards. The creativity that we have in the UK – and particularly in the construction industry – is a great breeding ground for pushing forward new and improved standards. The UK engineering sector has truly worldwide capabilities for design and innovation, qualities which are important elements to any global standard. “ International Standards provide a useful benchmark © Morley Von Sternberg Sternberg Von © Morley for when operating in the About Arup global marketplace.” With its origins as consulting structural engineers working on flagship buildings such as the Sydney Opera House and the Pompidou Centre in Paris, International Standards provide Arup has evolved in the last 60 years to become a global firm of designers, us with the tools to meet the important engineers and business consultants. 2006 is Arup’s 60 th year, with the firm now changes happening in the world. There employing over 7 000 staff worldwide, in more than 70 offices in over 30 coun- are several aspects to this : standards ena- tries. ble us to help our customers raise their Arup is a truly global firm, with a design portfolio that ranges from own standards, which in turn can help concert halls to galleries, automobiles to infrastructure, and structural to envi- to improve those International Stand- ronmental engineering. Arup is recognized as a creative force in the market, a ards ; standards also enable us to move position it holds by constantly evolving its skill base to reflect the diversity of forward with innovation in design. As both its clients and staff. the market becomes ever more global, This holistic approach is one of Arup’s greatest assets and enables the it is important that standards are harmo- firm to provide sustainable solutions for its clients. Example projects include nized. Yet it is also important that the the master planning and design of Dongtan, the world’s first sustainable city in standards process doesn’t become too Shanghai, the redesign of the route taken by Channel Tunnel Rail Link to encour- clinical and sterile. However, if devised age the regeneration of south east England, and the groundbreaking engineer- and worded appropriately, Internation- ing work Arup is undertaking on landmark buildings for the Beijing Olympics al Standards should serve to foster and in 2008, including the Stadium, National Swimming Centre and the Chinese harness innovation. Center Television (CCTV) tower.

ISO Focus : Arup is a partner with the Global Reporting Initiative – an official collaborating centre of the ently assessing how these initiatives are not be used for certification. We already United Nations Environment Programme actually complied with in practice. The have a proliferation of guidelines in this (UNEP) working in cooperation with same applies to a number of national ini- area and I would like to see the indus- UN Global Compact. What added val- tiatives in this area, which are also self- try taking the next step forward with the ue would you see in the International assessed, with little validation. introduction of validation and compli- Standard giving guidelines on social There is a need for a common set ance checking for social responsibility. responsibility being developed by ISO of agreed indicators for social respon- This would bring real added-value to the (cf. ISO 26000)? sibility which are transparent and inde- consulting sector. pendently verifiable. While I welcome Terry Hill : As both the Global Report- the intent of ISO 26000 to give harmo- ing Initiative and the UN Global Compact nized, internationally agreed guidance for Acknowledgement – Terry Hill wishes to are based on voluntary use by organiza- social responsibility implementation, my thank Turlogh O’Brian, Neil Ridley and Peter tions, there are few means of independ- understanding is that the standard will Braithwaite for their assistance in his replies.

ISO Focus February 2006 7 Main Focus Strategic standardization Can standardization help businesses?

by Mike Low, Director British Inn vation Standards he strategic use of standards can help to improve competitive advantage and Tand deliver real return on investment. However, it is not widely understood how the role of standards, and the standardization infrastructure that supports their development, can have an influence on business competitiveness both nationally and internationally. Some key findings of research projects undertaken demonstrate how strategic standardization can benefit business, which provides an essential tool for competing in today’s complex environment. Used strategically, standardization can help companies break out of their current way of thinking, take advantage of new opportunities and actually create new markets. It enables businesses to achieve market differentiation, manage costs, gain access to new markets, and allows them to seize opportunities quickly and effectively, and is therefore a powerful strategic tool for understanding and impacting on the global market.

What is British Standards doing? British Standards is working actively to communicate these benefits of standardization by justifying them to the relevant audiences, be it at an organizational or national level. We are increasingly engaging with our customers both at a policy or strategic and also tactical level. In addition, we are looking inter- nally and encouraging a culture within our own organization that responds to customers, stakeholders and the econo-

8 ISO Focus February 2006 Inn vation

We are also leveraging key drivers Micro-Economic for change, specifically, reducing the time Research to market, increasing our product portfolio, both in the products we offer as well In addition, BSI commissioned and as the markets we serve and, at the same micro-economic research, questioning standardization time, striving to prioritize finite resourc- a wide range of organizations and sectors about investigating their attitude and es to those markets and customers where “ Best practice... there is the most relevance and where the experiences of standardization. Organi- impact will be greatest. zations included : next practice ” In essence, all we are doing is using • Corporate ; BSI has also commissioned research traditional marketing techniques to pro- • Government ; under the banner of the NSSF. The Best mote standards and standardization. Practice…. Next Practice – How to sur- • Standards bodies ; and vive, innovate and grow in an ever chang- • Industry associations. ing world book (overleaf) highlights how National standardization the strategic use of standards can help to strategic framework Industries included : improve competitive advantage and deliver real return on investment. In the United Kingdom, the Con- • Chemicals, energy and oil/gas ; federation of British Industry (CBI), • Manufacturing, engineering and the Government Department for Trade construction ; and Industry (DTI) and BSI, have come together to develop a National Standard- • Defence ; ization Strategic Framework (NSSF) to • Environment ; secure a step change in the understand- • Financial services ; ing and use of standards and standardization to the benefit of business, gov- • Government/quasi government ; and ernment and society. • IT and telecoms. Through this joint initiative, as well as in other research and engagement by BSI, we have developed a package to “ The strategic use promote standardization to business, gov- of standards can help ernment and society. to improve competitive advantage and deliver real Research study: DTI – macro-economic return on investment.” At the macro-economic level the DTI sponsored a study which reveals, for Leisure, food and retail, the first time, the full extent of the contri- medical bution of standards to United Kingdom public limited companies. The study’s From the research, BSI was able to key findings are that : develop a cycle of standardization which highlights how the use of all types of stand- • Standards make an annual contribu- ards can lead to continuous improvement tion of GBP 2.5 billion to the UK by organizations and industries. Increasingly, standardization is economy ; becoming an integral part of company strategies, and is not just about technology and • 13 % of growth in labour productiv- products, it’s about business leadership. ity is attributable to British Stand- Micro-economic study – In my own conversations with business ards (this research was based on the examples leaders I have seen a growing awareness formal standards catalogue of British The companies research encap- that standards play a vital role in meet- Standards) ; and, sulated a wide selection of organiza- ing challenges as diverse as globalization, • Standards are an enabler of innovation tions, ranging from small and medi- rapid technology change and the need to and international technology transfer, um-sized enterprises (SMEs) to mul- improve competitiveness and operational and provide a framework for sustain- tinational enterprises (MNEs), and the efficiency. Standardization is a strategic able growth and profitability through quantitative benefits of standardization management tool for understanding and streamlining business efficiency. were identified. impacting the global market.

ISO Focus February 2006 9 Main Focus

The information in this book is was also reported. Through its efforts to partially derived from data provided by standardize e-commerce, the company has research projects, which included busi- realized GBP 20 million in savings as well ness dialogues, case studies, a survey of as benefiting its customers. SMEs and a workshop in which busi- The company uses standardiza- nesses evaluated conclusions drawn from tion in all aspects of its business, and was the research. This research captured the quoted as saying : “ Standards are essen- thoughts and methods of business lead- tial to us – our future survival depends ers who are currently implementing best on them .” practice, creating new technologies, markets and business models. But, the study looks beyond the Value generation Cost reduction best practice to the next practice that is By focusing on the market, com- Maximizing cost control and oper- essential for surviving and prospering in panies can identify emerging customer ational efficiencies is paramount for busi- the global economy. needs early on and help drive the industry nesses in today’s highly competitive, global The study looked at how strate- towards meeting those needs. Standardi- gic standardization can benefit business zation can add value and act as an enabler in four key areas : in venturing into new markets and further About the author • Innovation ; penetrating existing ones, and standardi- Mike Low

• Value generation ; zation can be used as a strategy to : © BSI joined BSI as • Cost reduction ; and • Increase market share with existing Director of products in the same market ; British Standards • Compliance. in November • Expand into new markets with exist- 2003. Immedi- ing products ; and ately prior to this Innovation • Develop new markets with new prod- he was the ucts. Director of Companies identified many reasons for Group Strategy using standardization to encourage Take as an example a leading Brit- and Performance for Amey plc. His work innovation to achieve product and ish telecommunications provider, one of in the rail sector was recognized by his service differentiation : the largest communications companies in appointment as a director of the Rail Forum • Knowledge transfer ; the world, serving over 20 million cus- in 2002. His earlier career was spent in the tomers in the United Kingdom. The com- Utility Sector in a wide range of engineer- • Cost and risk reduction ; pany strategically manages it standards ing, safety and operational roles, including • Faster time to market ; and activities to, for example : Managing Director of British Energy plc’s UK generation division and as a main • Set expectations through high value • Track fundamental research ; Board Director. Previously, he was Director innovations which then provide the • Assess potential future product possi- of Health Safety and Environment for platform for further innovation. bilities ; Nuclear Electric and subsequently Techni- The preferred strategy will depend cal and Business Development Director. • Instigate development programmes ; Mr. Low is a fellow of the Royal Academy on market position, size of company, and of Engineering and of the Institute of business objectives and whether the com- • Determine the need for standards to Quality Assurance, an active member of pany has first-mover advantage. A good CBI, Health Safety and Environment help create the future market. example from the case studies is that of Committee, and an active member of IAEA Arup, a company which specializes in The company views standardiza- Standards Committees on Nuclear designing business solutions, project tion as a means to create standards prior to operations and safety. Mr. Low totals 32 management and engineering consul- the establishment of a market. In this way, years in industry relating to utilities, tancy. It has over 7 000 staff in 32 coun- it reduces the risk of wasting resources in transport and support services and has tries. Standardization is a key manage- research and development for products that extensive experience in the public and ment tool in its efforts to create differ- will not be accepted, and helps to avoid private sector, including two privatizations. He has long experience in scientific, entiation in the provision of high quality costly market battles over preferred tech- engineering and management standards’ information and consultancy. nologies. The company promotes cooper- activities and has worked closely with For Arup “ Standards provide the ation on standardization and competition government and trade associations on the platform of information that then allows on implementation. Competitive advan- introduction of new legislation and its time for innovation and creativity, Arup tages can be gained through product price, impact, and the application of industry could not be so creative without them. ” design, quality, services and brand reputa- practices. He has published widely on power (See page 4). tion. A significant return on its investments plant matters, safety and risk management.

10 ISO Focus February 2006 Inn vation marketplace. Standardization can provide Compliance the tool for improving business performance whilst maximizing cost efficiencies, As well as using standards to meet mandatory requirements, and achieve mar- and also used strategically can produce a and significant return on investment. ket entry, compliance through standardization can also be an effective strategy for standardization cost reduction and brand enhancement. Where compliance with markets is regulated or expected by customers, Raising awareness compliance with standards is usually the It is clear that standardizers have most cost-effective way of demonstrating a great story to tell, and it’s a story that, that requirements have been met. Suppli- increasingly, the market wants to hear. ers may also differentiate their own prod- It is up to us, the national standards bod- ucts through compliance and gain com- ies, to ensure that message gets out to petitive advantage through delivery of a the business leadership community and consistent level of quality. to our respective governments and cus- My last example is taken from tomers. Deere & Company. Deere provides agri- In the United Kingdom, we have cultural and forest equipment to custom- a targeted engagement programme aimed ers worldwide. As a core business objec- at different sections of society, (exam- tive, Deere’s goal is to standardize prod- ples are brochures on government, edu- ucts globally. This not only benefits the cation, business, SMEs). I am particular- customers, but helps to decrease the costs ly proud of ‘ The small business guide to in meeting local regulations in 160 coun- making standards work.’ This explains, tries. Products can then be customized for simply and practically, the benefits of the local market to meet specific regula- standards and the reasons for using them tions and market preferences. and shaping their development by get- In using standardization as a stra- ting involved. tegic management tool to meet local and We have also very recently launched global regulations, Deere & Co strives to a communications campaign aimed at sen- © ISO © ISO drive down costs while delivering high ior managers in large companies across Take the example of a leading quality products that meet local mar- the UK, designed to raise the profile of United Kingdom government minis- ket needs. standardization and to position BSI as a try. It is through standardization that In conclusion – at a national level major force for business efficiency and they accomplish what they call smart we need to understand businesses and competitive advantage. acquisition. As well as ensuring qual- cooperate with them to increase their As part of this campaign we have ity, reliability and efficiency, standard- understanding of the value of standardi- a poster site at London Heathrow air- ization is critical for ensuring interop- zation and how we can help them pros- port, exposure to the news media, a erability, which is essential for the per- per. I believe the above study greatly direct mail and PR programme and a formance and global collaboration with enables us to do this. dedicated website. The theme of the other armed forces. campaign is ‘ Raising standards world- This government ministry presents wide ’ and reflects the increasingly inter- an excellent example of an organization national nature of standardization as that aligns standardization activities with seen at www.raisingstandards.com, organizational objectives. Although it and brings together all of the different previously relied solely on its inter- strands that we have been working on nal standards, it now works with BSI to raise awareness of standards in busi- to adopt external standards to achieve ness under the national standardiza- its goals. This change itself allows it tion strategic framework (NSSF), which to decrease costs and increase further can be seen at www.nssf.info/index. choice by purchasing industry stand- xalter and at a new SME Web site ardized components and taking advan- www.standardswork.co.uk tage of increased competition amongst suppliers. It sees “ the intelligent application of the standardization process (as) essential to achieving the benefits of smart acquisition .” © ISO © ISO © ISO

ISO Focus February 2006 11 Main Focus Nanotechnologies Driving the next industrial revolution ? by Dr. Peter Hatto, Chair, ISO/TC 229, Nanotechnologies

anotechnologies are predicted to become a critical driving force for Nsustainable development, health, and international wealth creating industries, promising major advances in the areas of materials, energy production and conservation, medicine (including novel treatments for cancer), environmental remediation, water purification, and information and communications technologies. Given such a wide diversity of applications and impacts, it is not sur- prising that many commentators speak of nanotechnologies as being the principal driver for the next industrial rev- © ISO olution. It is clear that an early start to standardization in the area will provide “ Substantial investments Overcoming obstacles, vital support for, and an important stim- reaching maturity ulus to industrial development and com- being made in mercialization of these important new nanotechnologies are New material and system prop- and emerging technologies. reported to exceed erties are, however, not the only drivers behind the very substantial invest- USD 5 billion worldwide.” ments being made in nanotechnologies, Ground-breaking material which, reportedly, in 2006 are expected Another excellent example can and system properties to exceed USD 5 billion worldwide in be found in carbon nanotubes, cylinders research and development spent by gov- The motivation behind the nano- of carbon atoms between less than 1 nm ernments. For semiconductor components, technology revolution is the appearance and a few nanometres in diameter, and up for example, a reduction in size means of novel material and system properties to a few tens of micrometres in length. a reduction in power consumption and when length scales are reduced to below These have much higher strength and an increase in packing and storage den- about 100 nm (a nanometre is one bil- elastic modulus than well-known car- sity, together with an increase in speed lionth of a metre). At such dimensions bon fibres and, depending on the precise and a reduction in price and raw mate- quantum effects begin to appear, causing arrangement of atoms, behave either as rial consumption. In the latest compu- unpredictable and often quite dramatic metals with very high electrical and ther- ter processors, line widths are now well changes in material behaviour. For exam- mal conductivity, or as semiconductors. below 100 nm, whilst individual transis- ple, particles of semiconducting materi- Carbon nanotubes are currently being tors have dimensions in the nanometre als, such as CdSe, approximately 3 nm evaluated for use as, among other things, range. These two factors have allowed an in diameter, can be made to fluoresce reinforcement in ultrahigh strength poly- increase in the number of transistors to with colours that are a function of size mer composites, high efficiency electron more than 0.5 billion on about 1 cm2 of only – a property that is utilized in so emitters for field emission displays, ultra- silicon, together with processing speeds called quantum dots, which are finding fast mechanical switches, and as ultrafine that now exceed 3 GHz (a gigahertz is application in, amongst other things, the probes for atomic force microscopes used a unit of frequency equal to one billion identification of tumours. for imaging at the nanoscale. cycles per second).

12 ISO Focus October 2005 Inn vation

Although nanotechnologies are devoted to assessing the biological and enabling important advances to be made in ecological risk posed by nanoparticles semiconductor manufacturing and device and other nanoscale materials. One issue operation, the techniques employed, most- facing regulatory authorities is whether and ly comprising so-called top-down proc- nanoparticles of existing materials need standardization esses, where the dimensions of a “ bulk” to be classified as new chemicals to take material are progressively reduced to the account of differences in properties asso- Without the above, commerciali- nanoscale, are extremely expensive, with ciated with their scale. An associated con- zation in some, if not most, areas is like- a typical “ Fab ” (fabrication facility) for sideration is whether current production ly to be severely hampered. the latest generation of devices costing limits for which new substance notifica- The need for standardization in in excess of USD 1 billion. tion is required should be lowered in the the field has already been identified by The accepted wisdom is that the case of nanoparticles to take account of a number of internationally recognized real breakthrough for nanotechnologies possible increased risk. The way in which reports, such as the UK Royal Socie- will come from application of bottom- these issues are resolved could have impor- ty and Royal Academy of Engineering up processing, where nanoscale entities tant implications for the commercializa- report Nanoscience and Nanotechnolo- are constructed directly from their con- tion of some aspects of nanotechnologies. gies : Opportunities and Uncertainties stituent atoms and molecules – either However, it is vital that these and other (http://www.nanotec.org.uk/finalRe- using molecular “ templates ”, in a sim- issues be adequately addressed in order port.htm) and the US National Nan- ilar way to biological processes, or by to reassure the public that developments otechnology Initiative Strategic Plan using machines that can manipulate the in nanotechnologies are being undertak- (http://www.nano.gov/NNI_Strategic_ components with atomic precision. The en within a safe, responsible and sustain- Plan_2004.pdf). challenges to be overcome to achieve able framework. All of the above considerations widescale bottom-up manufacturing are contributed to the establishment of the formidable, but most commentators pre- Why International ISO technical committee ISO/TC 229, dict that this will be achieved within the Nanotechnologies, which at its first next decade or two, allowing nanotech- Standards ? meeting, agreed an initial structure of nologies to reach maturity by around the And why now ? three working groups, in the areas of forth decade of the century. So why do we need international terminology and nomenclature (con- standardization in nanotechnologies at Addressing biological this relatively early stage in their devel- “ An early start to and ecologic risks opment ? Well, in addition to providing support for industrial development, cur- standardization will provide The possession of novel, and in rently : vital support for, and an many cases exceptional, properties is also • There is no internationally agreed ter- important stimulus to leading to concerns being expressed about minology for nanotechnology(ies) ; potential harmful impacts of nanomate- industrial development and rials, and in particular nanoparticles. This • There are no internationally agreed commercialization.” is a consequence of a predicted increase protocols for toxicity testing of nano- in reactivity resulting from a much high- particles ; vened by Canada), measurement and er surface-area-to-volume-ratio at the • There are no standardized protocols characterization (convened by Japan), nanoscale (chemical reactions occur at for evaluating environmental impact and health, safety and the environment surfaces and the surface area of a given of nanoparticles ; (convened by the USA). Agreement was mass of particles is inversely propor- also reached on the scope of the new • Existing methods of testing may not tional to the particle diameter), togeth- committee, a significant step forward as be suitable for nanoscale devices and er with a predicted ability for nanome- there is, as yet, no universally accepted nanoscale dimensions; tre sized particles to penetrate cell mem- definition of nanotechnology(ies) ! The branes and other biological barriers, such • Measurement techniques and instru- agreed wording is : as the skin and the blood/brain barrier, ments need to be developed and/or Standardization in the field of where it is feared that they might inter- standardized ; fere with normal cell function. nanotechnologies that includes either • New calibration procedures and cer- These concerns are being taken or both of the following : tified reference materials are needed very seriously by governments and inter- 1. Understanding and control of matter for use at the nanoscale ; and governmental organizations, such as the and processes at the nanoscale, typi- Organisation for Economic Co-operative • Multifunction nanotechnology sys- cally, but not exclusively, below 100 Development (OECD) and the European tems and devices will need new stand- nanometres in one or more dimensions Union, and significant resources are being ards. where the onset of size-dependent

ISO Focus February 2006 13 Main Focus

phenomena usually enables novel appli- • identifying gaps in knowledge ; Of course ISO/TC 229 is not the cations ; only standardization committee with an • identifying needs for, and encourag- interest in nanotechnologies. Surveying ing the development of, instruments 2. Utilizing the properties of nanoscale the arena of technical committees in ISO and test methods for use at the nano- materials that differ from the proper- and IEC it is clear that interaction with, scale ; ties of individual atoms, molecules, and and the support of, many other commit- bulk matter, to create improved mate- • developing test methods to detect and tees will be required to cover the whole rials, devices, and systems that exploit identify nanoparticles, and to char- domain of nanotechnologies, especial- these new properties. acterize nanoscale materials and ly considering the very broad range of devices ; applications that they are predicted to Specific tasks include devel- be enable. A high level of cooperation • developing protocols for bio- and eco- oping standards for: terminology and will be required to ensure a consistent toxicity testing ; nomenclature ; metrology and instru- and coordinated approach to standardi- mentation, including specifications for • developing protocols for whole life zation in the area. Liaisons have already reference materials; test methodologies; cycle assessment of nanoscale mate- been established with ISO/TC 24, Sieves, modelling and simulation; and science- rials, devices and products; sieving and other sizing methods, TC based health, safety, and environmen- 61, Plastics, TC 150, Implants for sur- tal practices. • developing risk assessment tools rel- gery, TC 194, Biological evaluation of evant to the field of nanotechnolo- medical devices, and TC 201, Surface gies ; chemical analysis, and many more are The benefits of early • developing protocols for containment, expected to follow in due course. Man- standardization trapping and destruction of nanoparti- aging this multitude of relationships cles and nanoscale entities ; will present its own challenges but the This new international collabo- new technical committee is confident ration will support technological devel- • developing occupational health proto- that the benefits to industry, research- opment, societal acceptance and market cols relevant to nanotechnologies, in ers and regulators of having a single expansion by : particular for industries dealing with focus for international standardization nanoparticles and nanoscale devices ; for nanotechnologies, will far outweigh • supporting regulation in the area of the efforts involved. About the author nanotechnologies ; Dr. Peter Hatto • supporting communication of accu- “ A high level of cooperation is Director of rate and quantifiable information on Research for nanotechnologies. will be required to ensure a IonBond Ltd, a consistent and coordinated leading producer of advanced thin approach to standardization film ceramic in the area.” coatings. His research activities have covered subjects ranging from erosion protection for aircraft engines to enhanced osseo-integration of dental and orthopaedic implants, including two major collaborative projects focused on nanotechnologies – one on the preparation and characterization of nanostructured multilayer coatings, undertaken in the mid 1990s, and the other, currently ongoing, on the use of nanocomposite coating architectures to control the friction and wear of contacting surfaces. Besides being Chair of ISO/TC 229, Nanotechnologies, Dr. Hatto is also Convenor of ISO/TC 206, Fine ceramics, WG 17, Adhesion of ceramic coatings by scratch testing, and CEN/TC 184, Advanced technical

ceramics, WG 5, Ceramic coatings. © ISO

14 ISO Focus February 2006 Inn vation

and standardization © ISO ISO 10303 © ISO © ISO © ISO

ajor industrial products, such However, there are a number of STEP – Supporting as aircraft, ships, buildings and practical difficulties in realizing the full innovation in Mindustrial plants, are increas- potential of these new capabilities. ingly being created and maintained • Individual enterprises use different through life using information held the global market software tools to undertake their work, in digital form, by alliances of enter- with the data held in different forms, prises working in a long and complex leading to potential barriers in com- supply chain. The use of digital data munication. by Howard Mason, Chair, is intended to increase speed and accu- ISO/TC 184, Industrial racy, reduce costs and improve quality, • The life cycle of a product is often meas- automation systems and and also offers the scope for new and ured in decades, far longer than the innovative customer services based on software tools, operating systems and integration, SC 4, Industrial data more comprehensive knowledge. For equipment used to create the informa- example, accurate tracking of all the tion in the first place. This means that, parts in an aircraft at all times allows unlike electronic transactions, infor- Grand Canal in Venice, Italy, 2004. the original supplier to offer better pre- mation must be maintained in a usable dictive maintenance and cost-effective form over an extended period. operation.

ISO Focus February 2006 15 Main Focus

• Different business functions often tion to the integrated STEP informa- nance solutions for a product through require diverse aspects of the prod- tion model. The resulting standardized life, to track planned and unplanned uct information to be extracted from definition of information can then be maintenance based on the actual state a comprehensive model. used to develop and validate transla- of the product, and the changing con- tion software to allow different com- figuration of the product as components These problems have a common puter systems to communicate using are replaced and repaired. PLCS imple- solution by using information standards agreed semantics. mentations are now in production use to communicate between different com- in Norway, Sweden and the USA, and puter systems. many more are under development or One standard for varied pilot testing. This standard is being used Linking systems industries by the Organization for the Advance- ment of Structured Information Stand- ISO 10303 – usually known as STEP has been in use for over ards (OASIS) consortium to develop a STEP, the standard for the exchange of a decade to provide open communica- range of consistent data exchange sets product data – provides a common data tion in the engineering industry. The to support different business processes backbone for linking systems that create aerospace industry makes extensive across the life cycle. or use product information. The stand- use of the standard for exchanging ard defines an integrated information design and configuration information model that supports multiple views of on projects such as the Eurofighter “ The STEP standards and product data for different applications. Typhoon, Boeing C-17 and civil pro- data modules represent For each application area covered by grammes, and the Airbus family of hundreds of millions the standard, a standardized application commercial airliners. Automotive and protocol (AP) describes the scope of shipbuilding applications are growing of dollars of proven the information requirement in terms in many countries, and the use of STEP investment.” that are familiar to domain experts. for printed circuit assemblies is also This may be illustrated by an activity gathering momentum. The modular approach means model which shows the business proc- that another new AP – the second edi- esses that are covered. The AP then tion of ISO 10303 part 203 on config- links the users’ view of the informa- Supporting the product life cycle uration-controlled 3D design – uses the same configuration model as PLCS The continuing development of for the initial design and manufacture About the author application protocols to support dif- of the product, so that information can ferent business information exchange Howard be transferred directly from manufac- and sharing requirements has revealed Mason, Chair, turing to the support systems covered an increasing range of common pack- ISO/TC 184, by PLCS. ages of product information, or mod- Industrial auto- Other new modular application ules, which can be reused as building mation systems protocols currently under ballot spread blocks in multiple applications. Over 240 and integration, the coverage of STEP still further, into SC 4, Industrial modules have been published as tech- the manufacture of such diverse products data, works for nical specifications, and these may be as furniture and process plants for the BAE Systems assembled to meet specific information oil, gas and chemical industries. in the United exchange and sharing requirements. The real advantages of the mod- Kingdom, and ular approach comes from re-use of is responsible for information standards “ The use of digital data is the modules, both in accelerating the in the corporate IT office. He has been development of new standards, and in involved in industrial automation stand- intended to increase speed developing information sharing appli- ards for over 20 years, and has chaired and accuracy, reduce costs cations, where tried and tested software ISO/TC 184/SC 4 since 2000. He also and improve quality.” can be re-used to build new applica- chairs the OASIS consortium technical tions. The first example of this is the committee exploiting the STEP standard, proposed new work on a generic mod- and the management group of the MoU The first application protocol el for the through-life support of build- on eBusiness among ISO, IEC, the (AP) to make use of the modular struc- ings, where most of the required infor- International Telecommunications ture is ISO 10303 part 239, Product Life mation model is already available as Union (ITU) and the United Nations Cycle Support (PLCS). This AP extend- STEP modules. Centre for Trade Facilitation and Elec- ed the STEP model to support all the tronic Business (UN/CEFACT). information required to design mainte-

16 ISO Focus February 2006 Inn vation

Using the Web to maintain the standard ebXML The need to maintain informa- When innovation and tion over extended periods places a par- standardization ticular emphasis on the maintenance of really matters the standard and ISO technical committee ISO/TC 184, Industrial automation ompanies doing business in the st systems and integration, SC 4, Indus- first decade of the 21 century trial data, has developed an innova- Cknow only too well the impor- tive approach to the module specifica- tance of innovation to succeed in a marketplace driven by lower-cost world- tions. All the content of all the modules by Alan Kotok, Managing Editor is coded in a database under configu- wide competition, more sophisticated ration control, and scripts are used to of Science Careers and fickle customers, and stockholder extract the relevant content for a module or set of modules, inserting all the standard text, including that required from the Directives, and converting it into a set of HTML (Hypertext Markup Language, the authoring software language used on the Internet’s World Wide Web) files with the correct hyperlinks for immediate publication. Changes to a single module, or to the format, can be easily accommodated.

One STEP further Major developments continue to support the information needs of systems engineering and printed circuit assembly functions, building on the available suite of modules. The STEP standards and data modules represent hundreds of millions of dollars of proven investment, and are available to help in the generation of consistent product information models through the entire range of products covered by ISO. Other standards groups, such as ISO/TC 29, Small tools, WG 34, Cutting tool data representation and exchange have already used STEP technology to develop their own information standards. Another area currently being explored is the use of existing information models to support application standards for the emerging radio frequency identification (RFID) technology (see pages 20 and 23), so that information about products can be stored on the products themselves, and maintained through life. © ISO

ISOISO FocusFocus FebruaryFebruary 20062006 1717 Main Focus demands for higher investment perform- In 2004, ISO approved the suite finance industry has for some time looked ance. Doing business electronically can of documents as ISO technical specifi- at its entire business process, from initi- provide a wealth of opportunities for this cations ISO/TS 15000-1 through ISO/ ation of transactions to settlement, and kind of innovation, but as enterprises TS 15000-4, ebXML specifications cov- calls this end-to-end process improve- and technology vendors have discov- ering trading partner profiles and agreement, Straight Through Processing or ered, it takes more than just technology ments, messaging, and registry informa- STP. This innovation aims to reduce the to make e-business successful. It takes tion model and services. In 2005, ISO time for this process, from as much as open standards that provide a base on added the core components specifica- five days to a goal of one day.1) which to build innovative solutions – tions to its standards collection as ISO/ which is what the Electronic Business TS 15000-5. XML (ebXML) standards provide. The ebXML standards are designed “ The ebXML standards The ebXML standards are now to work independently as well as with each are now building a track building a track record of innovation world- other. This modular approach encourag- record of innovation wide, with two industry-wide examples es industries or trading partners to adopt described below. Plus, ebXML has encour- ebXML in pieces rather than swallow- worldwide.” aged development of new standards that ing the entire set of specifications at one offer companies large and small even more time. The ISO/ebXML standards are all One of the financial industry opportunities to conduct e-business. offered royalty-free and managed by groups leading the STP initiative is TWIST In 2001, the e-business standards standards organizations rather than ven- (http://www.twiststandards.org/), for- organizations OASIS (Organization for dors or vendor consortia. And an OASIS merly the Treasury Workstation Integra- the Advancement of Structured Informa- technical committee writes ebXML appli- tion Standards Team. TWIST focuses on tion Standards) and UN/CEFACT (Unit- cation profiles and test suites to encour- adoption of STP in corporate and whole- ed Nations Centre for Trade Facilitation age greater interoperability. sale transactions, those involving larger and Electronic Business) issued the first and institutional enterprises, investment ebXML (http://www.ebxml.org/) spec- companies and banks, and has a set of ifications. ebXML is a series of related Business innovations common messages addressing these transactions. But TWIST also recognizes that documents, each addressing a set of func- based on ebXML tions needed for electronic business : any solution will require a high degree While still a new set of standards, of data security and reliability, which is Messaging – for the secure and reliable ebXML has already gained adopters in where ebXML comes in. delivery of data from one trading part- North America, Europe, and Asia in a TWIST’s requirements explicit- ner to another ; wide array of enterprises. In fact, some of ly call for solutions that : Registries and repositories – that offer ebXML’s early applications are found in an authoritative electronic reference point high-stakes industries, such as commer- for specifications, business processes, and cial finance and health care, as detailed About the author other documentation needed for electron- below. In these instances, the indus- ic business in an industry, and companies tries or organizations adopting ebXML Alan Kotok conducting e-business in that industry ; chose the standards not only because of is Managing the need to innovate, but also because Editor of Sci- Collaboration protocol profiles and of ebXML’s capacity to enable secure, ence Careers agreements – that provide the techni- reliable, and transparent data exchange. (www.Science- cal capabilities of an enterprise and the Both commercial finance and health care Careers. org), specific details needed to establish elec- have little margin of error, and ebXML the job search, tronic business connections between more than meets the challenge. career devel- companies ; and, opment, and Business process specifications – that research funding portal of Science identify the parties in collaborative busi- Commercial finance magazine, published by the American ness transactions, interactions among the Association for the Advancement of For businesses of all sizes, man- parties, the specific documents exchanged, Science. Kotok is the author of three aging finances is a critical task, made the sequence of those exchanges, and books, including (with David Webber) even more complex for larger enterprises ebXML : The New Global Standard for key data elements exchanged. working in international markets. Cor- Doing Business on the Internet, ISBN: Core components – that identify com- porate treasurers will tell you that tim- 0735711178, New Riders, August mon business terms and give them a ing of transactions is all-important, with 2001. He has written numerous neutral name and unique identifier to the banking and finance sectors world- articles on information technology help companies in different industries wide eager to reduce the time needed and business for print and electronic to interact with each other. for wholesale financial transactions. The publications.

18 ISO Focus February 2006 Inn vation

• Identify trading parties and trading Health care informatics sessions. The ebXML standards have begun • Detect and reject unauthorized par- addressing one of the greatest frustrations ties or messages. and faced by health care practitioners, name- standardization • Detect and reject corrupted, duplicate ly finding and integrating patients’ medi- or missing messages. cal records. A patient rarely has one neat set of medical records. More often than The Artemis project also applies • Recover from data errors quickly and not, they are kept by separate organiza- the ebXML standards to a related need: reliably. tions, on different hardware platforms, identifying the transactions used to inte- in varying database formats, and man- grate the data from various medical • Synchronize systems after disconnec- records. Given that medical records are tion. aged by different software packages. A European initiative called the Artemis largely kept in electronic form, it makes To meet these demanding require- Project (http://www.srdc.metu.edu.tr/ sense to automate the retrieval of the ments, TWIST specifies the ebXML webpage/projects/artemis/home.html) data, but only if the methods for retriev- messaging standard for secure and reli- is developing a framework for semantic ing the data fit in with the overall work- able delivery of TWIST messages. This interoperability among health care record flow of the enterprises. Another infor- part of the ebXML standard (abbreviated systems to enable these widely varying matics initiative, Integrating Healthcare ebMS) uses the Simple Object Access systems to not only talk with each other, Enterprise (IHE), has defined interde- Protocol (SOAP) message framework, but also to understand each other. partmental workflow profiles that cata- but enhances it with digital signatures This ambitious project applies log the transactions required to integrate and Public Key Infrastructure to provide the concepts of ebXML, Web services, the medical information retrieved from authentication of the parties, as well as the Semantic Web, and peer-to-peer net- various information systems. encryption to ensure confidentiality. working. It breaks down the interopera- The Artemis project proposes cap- The TWIST specifications also bility challenge into two parts: syntactic turing these profiles in the format specified reference aspects of ebMS to maximize and semantic. The syntactic issues cover in the ebXML Business Process (ebBP) reliability. The ebMS protocols make full the protocols used to exchange the data standard. The ebBP specifies capturing use of SOAP's built-in error-handling char- in the records, including the Web or e- the processes used to conduct business acteristics. Under ebMS, trading partners mail, electronic data interchange formats among partners, which also describes the can also mandate acknowledgments to or XML. The semantic issues refer to the overall purpose of the interdepartmental document receipt of messages, as well problems of understanding the data in vari- workflow profiles. The ebBP function- as establish requirements for trading part- ous medical records, and it is these seman- ally identifies the parties doing business, ners to store messages in case one or both tic issues that ebXML addresses. describes the transactions among the par- partners' systems go down.2) The Artemis project proposes cat- ties, the order of the transactions, and the aloging common semantic units called major pieces of information exchanged. archetypes in an ebXML registry. Arche- This standard is particularly useful when 1) Gary E. Maier, “ Web Services For Straight- types provide common meanings for the trying to specify transactions among Through Processing,” ebizQ, 12 May 2003, basic pieces of information that reside in diverse environments used by the differ- http://www.ebizq.net/topics/web_services/ medical records, such as weight meas- ent parties, again a condition often found features/1462.html 5) urements, blood pressure, and lab tests. in health care informatics. 2) http://www.twiststandards.org/tiki-index.p Archetypes can provide the semantic glue hp?page=Application+of+Protocols for relating the data in diverse medical Encouraging new 3) http://www.openehr.org/FAQs/t_ records systems to each other.3) archetypes_FAQ.htm standards The ebXML registries allow add- 4) Asuman Dogac, et al. “ Exploiting ebXML ing metadata (defined as data about data) The ebXML initiative has encour- Registry Semantic Constructs for Handling to archetypes so they can be associated aged development of more electronic Archetype Metadata in Healthcare Informatics ” accepted for publication, International Journal with the archetype’s purpose, type of clin- business specifications, particularly those of Metadata, Semantics and Ontologies, 2004. ical documents in which they are used, making e-business practical for small- http://www.srdc.metu.edu.tr/webpage/ and relationship with other archetypes. er enterprises. The most prominent of projects/artemis/publications/IJMSO.pdf The ebXML registry standard specifies these new initiatives is the Uniform Busi- 5) Asuman Dogac, Veli Bicer, and Alper Okcan. query capabilities, and for this project the ness Language or UBL, now an OASIS “ Collaborative Business Process Support in IHE registry can store predefined queries for standard [http://docs.oasis-open.org/ XDS through ebXML Business Processes,” In commonly requested information. The ubl/cd-UBL-1.0/], which grew out of proc. of International Conference on Data ebXML registries also allow for retriev- the ebXML Core Components standard. Engineering (ICDE2006), Atlanta, USA, April 2006. http://www.srdc.metu.edu.tr/webpage/ al of the data from the medical records While ebXML defined a set of standard publications/2005/DogacBicerOkcan-IHE- systems, using common Web services building blocks for e-business, many XDS-BussProcess.pdf protocols, in addition to ebMS.4) businesses and industries are looking for

ISO Focus February 2006 19 Main Focus predefined business messages, which is (Left) Reading cartons where UBL comes in. tagged with RFID. UBL defines a set of standard business documents, such as invoices, ship notices, and purchase orders in the form of XML schemas. The standard also provides reusable XML data elements used in the documents, Unified Mode- (Bottom left) RFID ling Language diagrams for the overall

© Symbol Technologies, Inc. Technologies, © Symbol enabled gaming table. models and elements, and naming and design rules for the construction of XML elements in the UBL vocabulary. UBL has quickly gained adher- ents internationally. The Danish government for example has specified a standard electronic invoice (OIOXML) based on UBL that the EU’s e-government initiative expects will be a model for similar initiatives in Europe.6) Another emerging standard spawned by ebXML is the Content Assembly Mechanism (CAM) specification (http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/tc_home.php?wg_abbrev=cam). CAM allows trading partners to use common e-business standards such as UBL and industry vocabularies for their transactions, but also to put together messages reflecting the shared business context

of the trading partners. CAM defines Gaming International. and Progressive Technology © Magellan business rules and specifies templates based on those rules. Trading partners then can invoke those rules and templates to assemble the messages that Radio frequency ISO, as a forerunner in RFID meet their specific needs, yet still com- standardization, published its first stand- ply with the underlying standards and identification ards in 1996 in the field of animal iden- specifications.7) tification. Developed by ISO technical CAM meets a need for e-busi- A technology committee ISO/TC 23, Tractors and ness message assembly, integrating ele- machinery for agriculture and forest- ments of ebXML’s Core Components and whose time has ry, subcommittee SC 19, Agricultural Business Process specifications. And it electronics, the two-part standard (ISO is designed for use with ebXML regis- come ! 11784/5) defines the use of an RFID tag tries. While CAM is still a draft OASIS implanted in an animal to provide identi- standard, telecommunications and insur- fication. Little did they know at that time where the technology was headed. ance companies have begun implemen- by Steve Halliday, President tations of it. Sometimes innovative companies can’t wait for the final versions of High Tech Aid, a consulting of standards. company in the USA A reliable means to identify and track items t was just two years ago that only technology experts knew of RFID The technology has been around 6) http://europa.eu.int/idabc/en/ (radio frequency identification). The for a long time. It was first used in World document/4597/194 I use of cards to open doors (known as War II as a means of identifying aircraft 7) “Content Assembly Mechanism, Executive access control), or to allow faster pay- in radar scans. The Identify Friend of Overview,” OASIS white paper, 4 March 2003. http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/ ment on a toll road, for example, were Foe (IFF) system is still used today – download.php/5930/CAM%20Executive%20 not yet in the public’s mind as being though the system has evolved signifi- Overview%20brochure%2003Mar04.pdf associated with RFID. cantly since those early days.

20 ISO Focus February 2006 Inn vation

(Left) 18000-6C Tag.

and standardization (Bottom left) Using RFID enabled SpeedPass. Information technology, subcommittee SC 31, Automatic identification and data capture techniques, held in Brus- sels, Belgium, in 1996, established three (Below) working groups (WG) : RFID enabled airline WG 1 – Data carriers – primarily bar © UPM Rafsec. bag tag. code standards ; WG 2 – Data structure – how to put data in a data carrier so that it can be understood by all ; WG 3 – Conformance – testing data carriers and the equipment that goes with them. “ It was just two years ago that only technology experts knew of RFID.” © ISO A paper giving the business case for RFID presented at the meeting was © Texas Instruments. © Texas Instruments. © Texas expanded and became the basis for a fourth working group (WG 4) called RFID for item management, which met RFID, known as an Automatic Other forms of AIDC that many for the first time in August 1998 in Japan. Identification and Data Capture (AIDC) people are familiar with include bar codes, To avoid any duplication of work with technology, involves sending a radio wave magnetic stripes, smartcards, and even other ISO committees, the subcommit- from a reader/interrogator to a tag (or punch cards – anything that eliminates tee decided to limit WG 4 to item man- transponder). AIDC is an industry term the need for typing and re-typing infor- agement, thus removing possible con- which describes the identification and/ mation and hence improves the accura- flicts with payments systems and animal or direct collection of data into a micro- cy and throughput of a system. identification that were being addressed processor-controlled device, such as a RFID has advantages over other by other ISO committees. computer system or a programmable technologies in that it is a wireless tech- Working group 4 established at logic controller (PLC), without the use nology and the need for physically see- its inaugural meeting three subgroups, of a keyboard. AIDC technologies pro- ing a tag (like a bar code reader needs to SG 1, Data formats for RFID ; SG 2, vide a reliable means not only to iden- see a bar code), or for the tag to come in Unique ID for tags; SG 3, Air interface. tify but also to track items. It is possible contact with the reader (like a magnetic There was an enormous task in front of to encode a wide range of information, stripe or a smartcard) is eliminated. The the three subgroups as they started to from a basic item or person identifica- technology also allows for the re-writing grasp the implications of the subject. tion to comprehensive details about the of data on the tag so it can be modified However, their work came to fruition item or person, e.g. item description, as it moves through an application. in 2004 when the working group’s first size, weight, colour, etc. At their core, standards (ISO/IEC 15961, ISO/IEC all AIDC technologies support two com- Fast standardization for a 15962, ISO/IEC 15963) were sent to mon goals to: fast-moving technology publication. The working group also pub- • eliminate errors associated with identi- Attended by delegates from all lished ISO/IEC 18000, a multipart stand- fication and/or data collection; and over the world, the first meeting of ISO/ ard – comprising six parts and amount- • accelerate the throughput process. IEC Joint Technical Committee JTC 1, ing to 592 pages – under the general

ISO Focus February 2006 21 Main Focus title, Information technology – Radio ed by the old UCC/EAN organizations The downside of these devel- frequency identification for item man- (now GS11)). EPCglobal™ provides a opments is that some privacy groups agement. As the ISO/IEC 18000 series solution using RFID to take the use of have taken the view that the use of was being developed, it became appar- bar code on items to the next level. The RFID poses a major threat to privacy. ent that standards for measuring the per- concept of EPCglobal™ is that eventu- This lack of understanding, in my opin- formance and conformance of the air ally everything will have a unique RFID ion, is certainly going to hamper the interface would be necessary. To this tag, thereby easing the problems in the broad adoption of the technology, until end, under the responsibility of WG 3, a supply chain from beginning to end. the general public understands the ben- technical report (ISO/IEC TR 18046) on This group started by creating efits of RFID and that its technology measuring performance of RFID systems an RFID air interface for the ultra high poses no greater threat than the bar and several parts of a multi-part stand- frequency band. Many of the same peo- code on a box or the magnetic stripe ard to show how to determine conform- ple who created ISO/IEC 18000 were card in a wallet. The various manufac- ance to ISO/IEC 18000 were also pub- involved in EPCglobal™, thereby giving turers of RFID systems and large users, lished. The final document in this series them the chance to improve the design. who have created mandates, are try- of standards (ISO/IEC TR 18047) should The EPCglobal™ specification was ing to create privacy policies that will be published in early 2006. finished and ratified in 2004 and sub- prevent any significant boycott of the With such a fast moving technolo- mitted to ISO for inclusion in ISO/IEC technology. gy, no sooner had the standards been pub- 18000-6 (which, at the time this article lished was it necessary for most of them was written, had an amendment about to be re-opened for revisions (except for to be sent for final draft International “ With all the work in RFID, ISO/IEC 15963, Information technology Standard ballot). there is no doubt that – Radio frequency identification for item Other ISO committees are also the technology has caught management – Unique identification for hard at work defining standards for RF tag). Subcommittee SC 31 has acted RFID. These committees are develop- the eye of users.” swiftly and filed new work item proposals ing application standards that refer to to open the standards for modifications to the base technology standards created by Another challenge faced by the include new technology and to allow even SC 31. The ISO/TC 122/TC 104 Joint use of RFID, is the problem with Radio more to be done with the tags. Working Group, Supply chain applica- Regulations, as some parts of the world tions of RFID, for example, has a series have still to define their radio regula- Moving RFID into of five standards that specify supply chain tions for this technology. Unfortunate- the main stream applications of RFID from the item level ly, there are currently no global regu- to the container level (see page 23). In lations and the frequencies used in the To help move RFID into the main addition, ISO technical committee ISO/ USA are in the middle range of the Glo- stream as far as the supply chain is con- TC 104 is developing standards to define bal Sytem for Mobile (GSM) commu- cerned, an organization outside of ISO the security of a container using RFID nications mobile phone frequencies in – known as EPCglobal™ – was creat- and using as its reference, the work of Europe. This has resulted in many chal- subcommittee SC 31. lenges in designing an RFID system for About the author use on a global basis. Triumphs and challenges Steve Halliday is the president With all the work in RFID, of High Tech there is no doubt that the technolo- Aid a consulting gy has caught the eye of users. The company based International Air Transport Association in the USA (IATA), for example, recently man- (Pittsburgh, PA) dated the use of ISO defined tags and that provides data structures for the tracking of bags. standards, In addition, as a result of the work of education, and EPCglobal™, we have also seen man- technology dates requiring the use of RFID tags assistance to companies that want to be involved in the AIDC market. Steve is an from, among others, Wal-Mart, Tar- electronic engineer and has been involved get, Metro, and the US Department of in ISO standardization work since 1986. Defense. Although the mandates only cover the case and pallet level, we will 1) GSI is a leading global organization dedicated As part of his work at High Tech Aid, to the design and implementation of global Steve publishes a monthly newsletter on certainly see these mandates spreading standards and solutions to improve efficiency the world of AIDC, free sign-up is to item level as the technology contin- and visibility in supply and demand chains possible at http://www.hightechaid.com. ues to develop. worldwide and across sectors

22 ISO Focus February 2006 Inn vation

These include many entities, such Revamping as producers of the goods, logistics man- the supply chain agement firms, consolidators, truckers, rail- roads, air carriers, marine terminal opera- and with RFID tors, ocean carriers, cargo/mode/customs standardization agents, financial and information services, and buyers of the goods being shipped. Whereas bar codes require line of sight and can only be scanned one at by Craig K. Harmon, Chair, Technology only getting ISO 122/104 Joint Working a time, radio frequency identification better (RFID) enables potentially hundreds of Group on supply chain tagged items to be read within a second. applications of RFID. Twenty years ago, tracking products in their movement was difficult at Further – depending upon the materials – best, and largely impractical due to the tags can be embedded within the product s goods move through the supply packaging and read without ever having chain, there are significant ben- requirements for data entry: completion of forms, key-entry of source documents, to open the transport unit. This “trans- Aefits in being able to track prod- parency” of identification provides both and subsequent communications to trading ucts in their movement, including loss an opportunity and a challenge. prevention, inventory control, and in- partners. These manual processes were slow and error prone; so much so that the Since multiple items can be read transit visibility. – both within the package and the pack- “Supply chain” designates an value of the results often did not equal the cost of the effort. In the early 1990s, we age itself – it becomes necessary to dis- overall process that results in goods tinguish which of the two levels of pack- being transported from the point of ori- were able to augment the manual processes with the application of the quick aging are being read. Today’s RFID sys- gin to final destination and includes the tems enable reading of all tags: product movement of the goods, the shipping data and accurate bar code technology. Today, we are tak- tags, transport unit tags or any combi- and the associated processes, including nation of packaging levels, between or the dynamic links between the differing the next RFID step. ( above. ent participants. Figure 1 (overleaf) provides a model of the ISO/TC 122/TC 104 Joint ( Working Group, Supply chain applica- © ISO tions of RFID. ( Interoperable standards ( for packaging and ( containerization The ISO/TC 122/TC 104 Joint Working Group – that combines the efforts of ISO’s technical committees for packaging and containerization arose out of previous ISO work items for bar codes and two-dimensional symbols. The joint working group began with five principal standards : ISO 17363, Supply chain applications of RFID – Freight containers ISO 17364, Supply chain applications of RFID – Returnable transport items ISO 17365, Supply chain applications of RFID – Transport units ISO 17366, Supply chain applications of RFID – Product packaging ISO 17367, Supply chain applications of RFID – Product tagging

ISO Focus February 2006 23 Main Focus

Figure 1 : Craig Hamon Layer 5 graphic. Movement vehicle

“TPA” - Trading Partner Agreement (truck, airplane, ship, train) Concept source – Akira Shibata, DENSO-wave corporation Layer 4 (433 MHz) ISO 17363, Container Freight containers (eg., 40 foot sea container)

Layer 3 (860-960 MHz) (Other ISO/IEC 18000 w/TPA Unit load Unit load “ As goods move ISO 17364, Returnable pallet pallet transport items (RTIs) through the supply chain, there are Layer 2 (860-960 MHz) ISO 17365, Transport Transport Transport Transport significant benefits Transport units unit unit unit unit in being able to track products in Layer 1 (860-960 MHz) ISO 17366, Pkg Pkg Pkg Pkg Pkg Pkg Pkg Pkg their movement.” Product packaging (Pkg)

Layer 0 (860-960 MHz) (13,56 MHz w/TPA - 18000-3m1) ISO 17367, Product tagging Item Item Item Item Item Item Item Item Item Item Item Item Item Item Item Item

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ISO/TC 104 assigned a sixth • designed to be easy to fill and emp- work item to the group – the re-write of ty; and the first RFID standard – ISO 10374.2, Freight containers – RF automatic iden- • having an internal volume of at least 3 3 and tification. 1 m (35,3 ft ). standardization As can be seen in Figure 1, an Since many returnable containers individual product might have numerous could be included in such a definition, levels of packaging, from the product personal identification can be placed the work of the Joint Working Group package, the transport unit, the return- in a “ smartcard ” – integrated circuits (JWG) immediately embraced the needs able transport item, and to the freight (I.C.) card ; of freight containers (ISO/TC 104), as container. well as of pallets (ISO/TC 51). Data Content : Techniques called A good case in point, and one that “ semantics ” where specific abbreviations, can provide visualization of the issue at Automatic identification standards tags, or identifiers can provide knowledge hand, is the automotive industry receiving fall basically into five categories : as to the type of data that follows, such application. At an automotive industry as where an “ S ” might mean a “ seri- receiving dock it is conceivable that one Technology : How we encode al number ” while a “ P ” might mean a might receive a 40-foot container of car characters into the bars and spaces of “ product code ”. These data elements seats, small returnable containers filled bar codes (symbology), techniques for and their semantics might then be joined with fasteners, shipping labels affixed to using radio waves to encode informa- with other elements of data into a longer unitized pallets, product packaging for tion (RFID), and technologies where message that could be coded into a spe- janitorial supplies, and product tags on cific technology. The means by which individual axles and transmissions. To this combination occurs is the “ syntax ” require unique reading equipment for About the author of the message ; each product type would be completely unworkable. With over 25 The 16 various permutations years in the “ The standards developed shown in Figure 1 are representative information are cooperative and of the nesting that might occur in sup- systems industry, Craig K. complementary, rather than ply chain applications. Consequently, Harmon serves competing and conflicting.” the technologies employed throughout as the President the chain of large returnable containers, and CEO of small returnable containers, shipping con- Q.E.D. Systems, Conformance : Processes by tainers, product packaging, and product an organization which a specific device can provide tagging must certainly be non-interfering that provides standards development, assurance that its technology and data and preferably interoperable. educational, advisory, and systems design content follow the rules. Such process- Some might conclude that it services. He currently chairs the US TAG es might include print quality for opti- makes sense for a common set of stand- to SC 31/WG 4, serves as the Senior cally readable media, to test specifica- ards through the transport unit and pos- Project Editor for the SC 31 Air Interface tions, and means to assure compliance Standards (ISO/IEC 18000), and chairs sibly the returnable transport item, but to established air interface standards for the ISO 122/104 Joint Working Group on does it become problematic at the freight supply chain applications of RFID. He wireless IT; container level ? serves as Vice-Chair to the Accredited Network: Means by which var- Concerns immediately disappear Standards Committee (ASC) MH 10 ious types of objects can communicate by consulting the definition of a freight (Material Handling), as a committee with one another (object-to-object com- officer in numerous ANSI, ISO and JTC 1 container (ISO 830), an article of trans- munications); groups, and as the liaison officer to IATA, port equipment which is : ITU, and ETSI. He participates in the Application standards: Where • of a permanent character and accord- specification development of EPCglobal the technology, data content, conform- ingly strong enough to be suitable for and is responsible for the development and ance, and network come together to solve repeated use ; maintenance of the international specific user requirements in an applica- vocabulary standards on bar codes, 2D tion, such as the tracking of freight con- • specially designed to facilitate the symbols, RFID, and RTLS. carriage of goods by one or more tainers, returnable transport items, trans- modes of transport, without interme- Craig K. Harmon is the author of four port units, product packages, products, diate reloading ; books on data collection technology, and electronic container seals. including Reading Between The Lines • fitted with devices permitting its ready and Lines of Communication. He As various committees within handling, particularly its transfer from provides the content for the web sites JTC 1 address the first three categories one mode of transport to another ; “autoid.org” and “qed.org”. above, and the International Telecom- © Courtesy of NASA/JPL/UMD Artwork by Pat Rawlings ISO Focus February 2006 25 Main Focus munication Union (ITU) begins to work on category four, the ISO/TC 122/104 JWG addresses the RFID application standards where technology meets user requirements. In this way, the standards developed are cooperative and complementary, rather than competing and conflicting.

Overcoming challenges There are challenges when user requirements introduce variables that may influence the decisions of an applications committee such as the JWG. Certain packaging materials and package contents have the effect of erratically reflecting, absorbing, or otherwise detuning radio waves. In such cases, what might have been a single application at the beginning of a project becomes more complex and may require a “default” technology, while permitting specific alternatives with trading partner agreements. Additionally, the interaction between products, containers, and con- veyances will introduce new opportunities for developing conveyance standards, such as ISO/TC 204, Intelligent transport systems, and ISO/TC 8, Ships and marine technology. So the popular western advertise- ment of a helpdesk knowing that a truck is on the wrong road because the RFID tags on the boxes told them so, may be a bit misleading. It will be a while before boxes will talk to pallets which will talk – supported by individuals from 45 to containers that talk to trailer chassis The world’s organizations in Europe, Asia-Pacific, that talk to tractors that enable satellite and the Americas – has completed its communications to prevent the cargo most human-like goal of developing a technologically- from going down the wrong road. advanced and human-like side impact Today, and in the foreseeable test dummy to dummy, which is now ready to con- future, the various media of automatic improve vehicle tribute to improved worldwide vehicle identification and data capture techniques safety. The dummy design is complete, will work together, using common data safety all design details have been published standards and principles of interopera- in an ISO standard, dummy production bility to provide a synergistic means of is on-going, and the development of an tracking items throughout the supply expanded “family” of different dummy chain from creation, to consumption, by the WorldSID Task Group1) sizes has begun. to recyclability, to re-use. n the field of automotive safety testing, the efforts of the ISO World Side 1) Risa Scherer, FORD Motor Company, Chair IImpact Dummy (WorldSID) Task of the America’s Advisory Group, Akihiko Group are nearly complete. After eight Akiyama, Honda, Chair of the Asia Pacific years of intensive worldwide design and Advisory Group, Edmund Hautmann, BMW Group, Chair of the European Advisory Group, testing efforts, and an expenditure of with Ken Wiley, Dynamic Research Inc., over USD 14 million, the Task Group WorldSID Phase II Project Manager.

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Superior to other USDOT-SID, EuroSID-1, ES-2re, and dummies ES-2, have ratings of 2.3, 4.4, 4.3, and 4.6 respectively. It could be said that cars are In addition to its superior over- and designed to protect crash dummies and all biofidelity rating, the WorldSID has standardization not humans, because many of the design “fair” to “good” ISO biofidelity clas- decisions related to safety are based on sifications in each of the six evaluated production since March 2004. Dummies tests with crash dummies. To establish body regions including the head, neck, may currently be ordered from either of a link between the crash dummy and shoulder, thorax, abdomen, and pelvis. two independent dummy manufacturers. the human occupant it simulates, a pri- Such localized biofidelity is equally The dummy is available with or with- mary design requirement for a crash as important as the overall rating. For out a variety of sensors and internal data test dummy is the ability to predict the example, a dummy such as the USDOT- recorders depending upon the needs of probability of human injuries in vehi- SID, – which is not able to predict the individual user. cle impacts. abdomen injuries, or the ES-2, which Human injuries however, are com- has poor abdominal biofidelity, doesn’t plex events dependent upon a variety of provide the engineer with the informa- “ The WorldSID has proven parameters. Head injuries can be caused tion needed to properly locate arm rests. itself to be the world’s most by acceleration, while chest injuries tend Recent test results showed that in iden- to depend upon rib deflections. Leg bone tical tests, the WorldSID abdomen, with human-like test dummy.” fractures, on the other hand, are related good biofidelity and deflection meas- to forces and moments. In order to pro- urement capabilities, was able to identi- In addition, with the Decem- vide engineers with accurate injury pre- fy injury potential not identified by the ber 2005 publication of ISO 15830, all dictive data, a dummy must be biofidel- ES-2 and ES-2re dummies. aspects of the WorldSID design became ic; i.e. it must duplicate the mass, stiff- available to all interested parties. ISO ness, and deflection characteristics of the 15830:2005, which has four parts under human body. In this respect, the World- the general title, Design and performance SID has proven itself to be the world’s specifications for a 50th percentile male most human-like test dummy. side impact dummy (WorldSID), consists of nearly 500 pages of design, use, and calibration specifications, plus 400 fabrication drawings and CAD files, which include all of the design details, material specifications, and performance standards required for the fabrication of the WorldSID.

The “WorldSID family” It has long been recognized that vehicles must be designed to protect a variety of different-sized passengers, including large males, mid-sized males, small females, and children of various ages. Following completion of the ini- Both hardware and tial WorldSID design which is repre- th documentation now sentative of a 50 percentile male vehicle occupant, efforts shifted to expand available The WorldSID overall biofidel- the “ family ”. ity performance rating is 7.6 (on a 10 No matter how advanced and Under the direction of a Europe- point maximum scale) when evaluated needed a tool is, it cannot be used in an development project, a 5 th percentile according to ISO/TR 9790, Road vehi- worldwide regulatory testing until the female WorldSID is being developed. cles – Anthropomorphic side impact physical dummy and all aspects of the Following the general design concepts dummy – Lateral impact response design documentation are available to the and biofidelity of the mid-sized male, requirements to assess the biofideli- international automotive safety commu- the initial 5th percentile female dummy ty of the dummy. In comparison, other nity. The WorldSID meets both of these design is complete and a prototype dummy currently used side impact dummies, requirements. The WorldSID has been in has been fabricated. Initial testing of the

ISO Focus February 2006 27 Main Focus

5 th percentile female is currently underway. As was done with the mid-sized male design, the small female prototype will be subjected to a series of rigorous biofidelity and vehicle tests at a variety of test labs, with the test results and suggestions from test engineers forming the basis for design improvements which will be implemented prior to proceeding with full production.

“ The future for the regulatory use of the WorldSID and the resulting improvements in vehicle safety looks bright.”

Future prospects The next significant step for the WorldSID would be the inclusion of the WorldSID in a national regulatory test procedure. Towards that end, the Task Group is working with test labs around the © ISO world to finalize positioning instructions Diverse environments such as amusement which will include step-by-step instruc- Biometric parks, banks, mobile devices, passport tions on how to position the WorldSID programmes and driver’s licences, col- in a vehicle prior to testing. In addition, standards leges and school lunch programmes are the US auto industry has petitioned the already using biometric technologies for United States National Highway Traffic Rising to these personal authentication and iden- Safety Administration (NHTSA), which tification applications. is currently performing evaluation tests the challenge International biometric standards sup- of the WorldSID, to federalize the World- of technology port the mass market adoption of bio- SID as a first step towards its use in US metric technologies by helping custom- regulatory testing. innovation ers achieve higher levels of security and With the completion of the mid- interoperability in personal authentica- sized male WorldSID, and the begin- tion and identification applications using ning of an expanded WorldSID family, biometric-based open systems solu- the future for its regulatory use and the by Fernando L. Podio, tions. Large worldwide organizations resulting improvements in vehicle safety Chair of ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 37, such as the International Civil Aviation looks bright – for the entire family. Biometrics Organization (ICAO) and the Interna- For more information : or decades, biometric technolo- tional Labour Office (ILO) of the Unit- Ken Wiley gies were primarily used in law ed Nations (for the Seafarers Identifica- WorldSID Program Manager F enforcement applications. Cur- tion Credential program) have already Principal Engineer rently, they are required in many public adopted some of the standards devel- Dynamic Research, Inc. and private sector applications world- oped by ISO/IEC Joint Technical Com- wide to authenticate a person’s identi- mittee JTC 1, Information technology, E-mail [email protected] ty, secure national borders and restrict subcommittee SC 37, Biometrics. Cus- Tel. + 1 310 212 5211 access to secure sites including buildings tomer adoption of biometric standards Fax + 1 310 212 5046 and computer networks. Biometric tech- was previously reported in the Septem- nologies are found in identification cards ber 2005 issue of ISO Focus (Volume 2, and loyalty programmes, associated with No. 9), Biometrics : global challenges the management of welfare programmes. and customer needs .

28 ISO Focus February 2006 Inn vation

• ISO/IEC FDIS 19785-2, Informa- tion technology – Common Biomet- ric Exchange Formats Framework – Part 2: Procedures for the operation and of the Biometric Registration Author- standardization ity ; • ISO/IEC FDIS 19794-1, Information change formats – Part 3 : Finger Pat- technology – Biometric data interchange tern Spectral Data ; formats – Part 1: Framework ; • ISO/IEC FDIS 19794-8, Information Other standards under development technology – Biometric data inter- reached ISO/IEC FDIS status : change formats – Part 8 : Finger Pat- tern Skeletal Data ; • ISO/IEC FDIS 19784-2, Informa- tion technology – Biometric Applica- • ISO/IEC FDIS 19795-1, Information tion Programming Interface – Part 2 : technology – Biometric performance Biometric Archive Function Provider testing and reporting – Part 1 : Prin- Interface ; ciples and framework. • ISO/IEC FDIS 19794-3, Information • ISO/IEC FDIS 24709-1, BioAPI Con- technology – Biometric data inter- formance Testing – Part 1 : Methods and Procedures ; About the author “ International biometric Fernando L. standards help Podio is a mem- customers achieve higher ber of the Com- puter Security levels of security and JTC 1/SC 37 is approaching the com- Division of the interoperability.” pletion of the first generation of interna- Information Technology Lab- tional biometric data interchange format oratory at the Other parts of the biometric per- standards. These projects address stand- US National formance testing and reporting multi-part ardization of data interchange standard Institute of standard are : Part 2 : Testing methodolo- formats for a number of biometric modal- Standards and gies for technology and scenario evalu- ities including finger minutiae, finger pat- Technology (NIST)1). He has worked in ation, Part 3 : Modality-specific testing, tern spectral and skeletal technologies, fin- different aspects of IT development, Part 4 : Performance and interoperability ger image data, face image data, iris image measurements, and standards for over testing of data formats and Part 5 : Per- data, signature/sign time series and proc- 25 years. For the past six years formance of biometric access control essed data, vascular image data and hand he has been involved in biometrics systems. Three parts of this multi-part geometry silhouette data. Four of these research and standardization. He is standard should be completed this year. currently responsible for the NIST standards were approved and published as The September 2005 ISO Focus article Program on Accelerating the Development ISO/IEC standards last year. Figure 1 (over- of Critical Biometric Standards & Associ- mentioned above, details these and other leaf) provides a brief description of these ated Conformity Assessment Activities. standards, including biometric application published standards. In addition, four stand- He is the Chair of ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 37, profiles under development, and JTC 1/ ards, at the time of this writing, are under- Biometrics, and he also chairs the SC 37’s contributions to cross jurisdic- going FDIS (Final Draft International InterNational Committee for Information tional and societal aspects of implemen- Standard) ballot and may be approved and Technology Standards (INCITS) Technical tations of biometric technologies. published early this year : Committee M1, Biometrics. He is the co-Chair of the Biometric Consortium • ISO/IEC FDIS 19784-1, Information (BC), which is an organization of over Examining innovations in technology – Biometric Application 1000 members from government, industry biometrics technologies Programming Interface – Part 1: Bio- and academia. New trends, industry initiatives API specification ; and technology innovations in Infor- • ISO/IEC FDIS 19785-1, Informa- mation and Communication Technolo- 1) 100 Bureau Drive, MS 8930 tion technology – Common Biomet- Gaithersburg, MD 20899-8930, USA gies (ICT) present challenges to open ric Exchange Formats Framework – E-mail [email protected] systems standards development bodies. Part 1: Data element specification ; Tel. 301 975 2947 JTC 1/SC 37 is rising to these chal-

ISO Focus February 2006 29 ISO/IEC 19794-2:2005, Information technology ISO/IEC 19794-5:2005, Information technology – Biometric data interchange formats – Part 2: – Biometric data interchange formats – Part 5 : Finger minutiae data – The standard specifies a Face image data – The standard specifies scene, concept and data formats for representation of finger- photographic, digitization and format requirements JTC prints using the fundamental notion of minutiae. It is for images of faces to be used in the context of both generic, in that it may be applied and used in a wide human verification and computer automated recog- range of application areas where automated finger- nition. The approach to specifying scene and pho- print recognition is involved. It contains definitions of tographic requirements in this format is to careful-

relevant terms, a description of how minutiae shall be ly describe constraints on how a photograph should determined, data formats for containing the data for appear, rather than to dictate how the photograph both general use and use with smartcards, and confor- should be taken. The format is designed to allow for 1/SC mance information. Guidelines and values for match- the specification of visible information discernable ing and decision parameters are provided in an infor- by an observer pertaining to the face, such as gender, mative annex. The standard specifies the fundamental pose and eye colour. The digital image format can be data elements used for minutiae-based representation either ISO standard JPEG or JPEG 2000. Finally, the of a fingerprint; three data formats for interchange ‘best practice’ appendices provide guidance on pho- and storage of this data: a record-based format, and to capture for travel documents and face recognition normal and compact formats for use on a smartcard performance versus digital compression. in a match-on-card application; and optional extend-

ed data formats for including additional data, such as

ridge counts and core and delta location. It provides 37 for interchange of finger minutiae data between sens- ISO/IEC 19794-6:2005, Information technology ing, storage and matching systems. – Biometric data interchange formats – Part 6 : Iris image data – The standard specifies two alterna- 37 tive image interchange formats for biometric authenti-

cation systems that utilize iris recognition. The first is ISO/IEC 19794-4:2005 Information technology based on a rectilinear image storage format that may – Biometric data interchange formats – Part 4: be a raw, uncompressed array of intensity values or a Finger image data – The standard specifies a data compressed format such as that specified by ISO/IEC record interchange format for storing, recording, and 15444 2). The second format is based on a polar image transmitting the information from one or more fin- specification that requires certain preprocessing and ger or palm image areas within an ISO/IEC 19785- image segmentation steps, but produces a much more 1 CBEFF data structure1). This can be used for the compact data structure that contains only iris infor- exchange and comparison of finger image data. It mation. Data that comply with either one of the iris 1/SC defines the content, format, and units of measure- image formats specified in ISO/IEC 19794-6:2005

ment for the exchange of finger image data that may are intended to be embedded in a CBEFF-compliant be used in the verification or identification process structure in the CBEFF Biometric Data Block (BDB) of a subject. The information consists of a variety of as specified in ISO/IEC 19785-11). mandatory and optional items, including scanning parameters, compressed or uncompressed images and vendor-specific information. This information JTC is intended for interchange among organizations that 1) ISO/IEC FDIS 19785-1 Information technology – Common Biometric rely on automated devices and systems for identifica- Exchange Formats Framework – Part 1: Data element specification tion or verification purposes, based on the informa- 2) ISO/IEC 15444, Information technology – JPEG 2000 image coding system tion from finger image areas. Information compiled and formatted in accordance with the standard can be recorded on machine-readable media or may be Figure 1 : ISO/IEC published standards developed by JTC 1/SC 37. transmitted by data communication facilities.

lenges by examining innovations in does not include an exhaustive over- BioAPI-related standards biometrics technologies and authen- view of these approaches, a few exam- to meet new industry and tication systems, and by working to ples are provided below. JTC 1/SC 37 customers’ need support new customers’ needs. While standing document 1 (SD1), available JTC 1/SC 37 completes its first gener- on the JTC 1/SC 37 Web site (www. JTC 1/SC 37 is approaching the ation of biometric standards, the sub- jtc1.org) provides detailed informa- development of BioAPI-related stand- committee is concurrently consider- tion on JTC 1/SC 37’s programme ards to meet new industry and custom- ing new projects to complement and of work and the status of each SC 37 ers’ needs. An ongoing amendment to enhance functionality of the exist- standards project. the BioAPI standard specifies a Bio- ing standards, to meet these new user API Graphical User Interface (GUI) requirements. Although this article functionality, to enable an applica-

30 ISO Focus February 2006 Inn vation tion to control the display of graphics Advances in 3D at enrollment, verification and iden- (three dimensional) face tification, as an alternative to using image data interchange the GUI provided by Biometric Serv- formats and ice Providers (BSPs). JTC 1/SC 37 is standardization developing a new part of the BioAPI Another ongoing effort in support of standard to specify a biometric archive technology innovation is an amendment Improved performance function provider interface. This stand- to ISO/IEC 19794-5:2005, Information ard would allow any third party to cre- technology – Biometric data interchange with biometric fusion ate archive biometric function provid- formats – Part 5 : Face image data. The JTC 1/SC 37 is documenting current ers for the storage and management of amendment of the base standard is to practice on multimodal and other multi- BioAPI biometric information records. specify a 3D face image data inter- biometric fusion. Biometric fusion is An associated standard to the BioAPI change format. Several new image types understood as the combination of infor- specification also under development is are introduced in the standard that are mation from several sources, original- the BioAPI interworking protocol. This a combination of 2D facial images and ly obtained from an individual either by standard specifies the syntax, semantics associated 3D range information. Under taking multiple samples of one biomet- and encoding of a set of messages that consideration as part of the amendment ric modality using multiple sensors, or enables a BioAPI conforming applica- are additions to the face image record multiple samples of multiple biometric tion to request biometric operations format, as well as ways to store range modalities (e.g., fingerprint, iris, vein), in BioAPI conforming BSPs across data in different representations, such as or by taking one sample and processing node or process boundaries, and to be the Cartesian coordinate system shown it with multiple algorithms. Solutions notified of events originating in those in Figure 2. Anthropometric landmarks based on multimodal or multi-biometric remote BSPs. JTC 1/SC 37 is also con- extend the facial feature model of the fusion promise to lead to better degrees sidering the development of a BioAPI base standard with new points that are of performance (and could be less sub- “Lite” standard. This standard would used in forensics and anthropology for ject to attacks due to artifacts or mimics) target the embedded systems environ- person identification via two facial imag- than systems based on a single method. ment where microcontrollers are used es or image and skull. Figure 3 shows A multimodal and other multi-biometric in a more restrictive environment and the definition of the anthropometric fusion technical report is under devel- general computer resources are not typ- landmarks under consideration in the opment. Because of this activity, JTC 1/ ically present (e.g., PDAs and mobile standard. The set of points represents phones). Functionality, environments, the craniofacial landmark points of the “ Biometric technologies requirements and target scenarios and head and face. They can be represented cases for the interface are currently as points in 3D and/or as landmarks on are already used to support under discussion. the 2D image. As shown in the graph many national security and some of these points have MPEG 4, private sector applications counterparts (that are already part of the original standard). worldwide.”

Figure 2 : Coordinate system specified in the Figure 3 : Anthropometric landmarks with (red) and without (blue) MPEG 4 counterparts. proposed amendment to the Face Image Data Interchange Format ISO/IEC 19794-5.

ISO Focus February 2006 31 Figure 4 : Levels of fusion for a multimodal system. Templates 1 Decision level fusion

Feature SCORE Sample 1 Matching 1 Decision 1 extraction 1 Decision MATCH fusion NON MATCH Feature SCORE Sample 2 Matching 2 Decision 2 extraction 2

Templates 2

Templates 1 Score level fusion

Feature Sample 1 Matching 1 extraction 1

Score SCORE MATCH Decision fusion NON MATCH Feature Sample 2 Matching 2 extraction 2

Templates 2

Templates Feature level fusion Sample 1 Feature extraction 1 Feature SCORE MATCH Matching Decision fusion NON MATCH Feature Sample 2 extraction 2

Templates Sample level fusion Sample 1

SCORE MATCH Sample Feature Matching Decision fusion extraction NON MATCH

Sample 2 Inn vation

SC 37 may undertake new standard projects in support of the use of these tech- © ISO nological approaches for personal identification and authentication applications. and There are several levels at which fusion standardization can take place in multi-biometric systems. These include fusing/consolidating information at the (1) sensor level, (2) feature level, (3) match score level, (4), and decision level. Levels of fusion for the case of multi-biometric systems under consideration are shown in Figure 4.

Future companion standards Another important area under study is the need for companion standards to the biometric data interchange format standards. An effort has been initiated to inves- tigate and produce a high level taxono- my so that conformance, interoperability, performance and quality can be properly addressed. As a result of this work, a special group was formed to address conformance issues related to the biometric data interchange standards. As a result of this effort, JTC 1/SC 37 expects that additional standards projects may be proposed to address this standardization area.

Biometric technologies are already Innovating with used to support many national security Cards for all smartcard and private sector applications world- seasons wide. Since its establishment in June Smartcards first appeared in the 2002, JTC 1/SC 37 has maintained an late 1970s. Being a novel mix of elec- aggressive and accelerated schedule of by Chris Stanford, Convenor of tronics carried within the same size biometric standards development. JTC 1/ printed plastic card, they gave the glo- SC 37’s programme of work reflects the the ISO task force for vicinity cards bal payments industry the opportunity significant progress the subcommittee e all, almost without excep- to add “ intelligence ” – albeit limited – has made in a relatively short period of tion, carry plastic cards, which to the dumb magnetic stripe card. time. Adoption of its standards by large are now used to help us spend Having a card that could keep organizations is ongoing. JTC 1/SC 37 W money, talk to friends, travel around secrets – whilst at the same time being is rising to the challenges presented by and enter our office. Such ubiquitous able to check an interrogating termi- innovations in biometrics technologies use could only have been facilitated by nal was genuine – and the cardholder and authentication systems. While it International Standards. was entitled to use it. It was a big step completes its first generation of biomet- The requirement for international forward in the security functions that ric standards, the subcommittee is con- standardization of cards was historically could be carried out with or without the currently considering new projects to driven by the needs of the financial services assistance of a transaction processing complement and enhance functionality industry for a globally-accepted method of system somewhere at the other end of of the existing standards and is working payment. Subsequent to the introduction of the planet. Smartcards were a new tech- to support technology trends and new the credit card in the 1950s, the technical nology that gave the global payments customers’ needs. interoperability, test methods and number industry an opportunity to address some registration, standards for magnetic stripe of the problems emerging in its estab- financial cards were developed and are lished market. still in widespread use today.

ISO Focus February 2006 33 Main Focus

New technology for new ards developed to satisfy the demands markets The Seoul scheme. for global services using cards or card Smartcards are a new technology technology. looking to establish new markets, even though conventional wisdom says not to Creating a low-cost start a new market with a new technolo- communications interface gy ! Either opportunity would have been unachievable, in the global marketplace, The development of several contactless card standards has seen a number without International Standards. Japanese phone card. Thus smartcards, which rapidly of pioneering technologies come and go, become a commodity item when used and some pioneering companies disap- in significant numbers, needed Interna- pear altogether ! The common thread tional Standards before they could be throughout the development of these used in any quantity at all. High volume standards was to create a low-cost com- production and lower prices in turn facil- munications interface that did not use itated their use in non global markets. any direct electrical connections but This led to the development of the con- London Oyster. could transfer data between a card and tact smartcard standards, without which a terminal, whilst at the same time pow- the use of 2 billion mobile phones and ering the card. The techniques needed 0.5 billion payment smartcards would for such an interface are distinctly dif- not have happened. “ Smartcards would have ferent depending on the operating dis- Interestingly, the new technology tance between the card and a target on did establish a new market for the use been unachievable in the the interrogating terminal. of mobile phones throughout the world ; global marketplace without Three different contactless stand- it did this before the financial commu- International Standards.” ards were developed, largely in order nity (outside of France) began to adopt of range of operation with each subse- the new technology in its existing mar- quent standard gaining from the tech- ket. One of the reasons for this appar- When I wrote a new work item nology and expertise harvested from ent reverse logic was the need to alter proposal for a contactless card standard its predecessor : an existing terminal and systems infra- in 1988, I did not real- structure versus starting from scratch as ize the extent of what Year of Contactless Standard Distance of in mobile telephony. would transpire. Today, publication card variety operation there are three published Standards for contactless families of contactless 1996 Close ISO/IEC Touching card standards, along- coupled 10536 the target cards side their associated 2001 Proximity ISO/IEC Up to 100 mm Contact smartcards have to be test method standards, 14443 from the target plugged into a terminal when used. and a raft of business This was seen by some as having all sector specifications 2001 Vincinity ISO/IEC Up to 1m from 15693 the target the disadvantages of a plug and sock- that use them. In addi- et – especially a plug that was poten- tion, new standards for tially covered in dirt, and a socket that tagging radio frequency identification Developing “ slotless ” might have had all kinds of nasty things (RFID) and mobile terminal commu- cards pushed into it ! Some of these fears nications, known as Near Field Com- (perhaps exaggerated by early protag- munications (NFC), use the same radio Developed with the remit of a onists of contactless smartcards), have frequency interfaces as specified in the direct contactless replacement for the indeed proved groundless but the con- card standards. contact card, the main market driver venience and that “ little bit of magic ” All these standards maintain a was a more reliable potentially slotless of a slot-less high speed touch-and-go high-level of backwards compatibility equivalent, of the hundreds of millions approach to the use of a plastic card, with the previous generation of technol- of pre-paid optical, magnetic and contact appealed to the public transport indus- ogy, and each generation of technology cards used in payphones. The advantag- try. More recently immigration control has not only given existing card issuers es being that without a slot to become and the global payments industry have new opportunities but opened up new blocked up, reliability would be improved identified the benefits. Thus the devel- markets for new card issuers. The Fig- and maintenance costs reduced. opment of contactless card standards ure (opposite page) illustrates the main This first contactless standard was born. market drivers and the array of stand- was largely based on a combination of

34 ISO Focus February 2006 The family of card standards and the close relatives

Inn vation

Global payments and standardization ISO/IEC 7810... Magnetic stripe Mobile phones 7816

Global payments

ISO/IEC 7816 Contact smart

7816

Payphones

ISO/IEC 10536 Contactless close coupled

Near Field My phone Communication (NFC) Also my Transportation ISO/IEC 18092 electronic wallet ? Passports ISO/IEC 14443 Global payments Contactless proximity

Radio Access control Frequency ISO/IEC 15693 Identification Baggage Contactless vicinity (RFID) GVA tagging? ISO/IEC 18000-3

ISO Focus February 2006 35 Main Focus inductive coupling and modulation tech- Harrow bus trial. Reaping the rewards niques, which became a common thread of innovative technology through all three varieties of contactless card standards, and reached by the mod- Transport able for global use. This linkage and the ification and harmonization of technol- calculation that the most cost-effective The success of the proximity card is ogies. This was offered by three major technology would be achieved by using a now self evident, over 200 million are used organizations : AT&T Worldnet Service, frequency between 6 and 15 Mhz led to the in public transport applications in the Far GEC 1) and Philips, of which only Philips migration of the standard to the globally East, Europe and in the Americas. There are remains involved with contactless card a number of transport industry open spec- technology today. available ISM frequency of 13.56 Mhz, a ifications using ISO/IEC 14443, Remote With the success of the mobile range of frequencies used for license-free coupling communication between an ISO phone, the pre pay card payphone market wireless communication. Even so the reg- card and related device, as a foundation, disappeared very quickly, and with it, the ulations covering the use of this frequen- notably those in France, Germany and the critical mass needed for use of products cy varied between the USA, Europe and United Kingdom, and these specifications based on this standard evaporated. Although Japan, thus an effective contactless card are converging on the work – now largely this standard is now seldom used outside standard involved influencing the RF reg- complete – in the European Committee for of Japan, it created a nucleus of experts ulatory bodies to globally harmonize their Standardization (CEN) for an interopera- familiar with the technology to contribute national requirements at this frequency. ble public transport application standard. A to the development of the globally success- This proved to be a slow process but suc- more recent development has been to fast ful proximity card standard. cess was gradually achieved. track another CEN standards initiative in Whilst ISO/IEC 10536, Identi- The proximity cards standards ISO, to cover the back office architecture fication cards – Contactless integrated were driven by technology from two of interoperable fare management systems. circuit(s) cards – Close-coupled cards, organizations (Mikron (later to become In addition to Europe, this is well support- consolidated the early interest shown in part of Philips) and Motorola). The basic ed by both the USA and Japan. contactless card technology as manifest- inductive coupling and modulation prin- ed in technology trials in payment sys- ciples were migrated to 13.56 Mhz from tems (Midland Bank at Loughborough the 3 to 5 Mhz used by ISO/IEC 10536, Payment Identification cards – Contactless inte- University in 1988) and in the trans- More recently the financial servic- grated circuit(s) cards, and the com- port industry (London buses in 1989), es industry has recognized that the speed munications interface enhanced by the the proximity card standard evolved to and ease of use of contactless cards is introduction of an option to use lower capitalize on these opportunities. appreciated by the consumer. The global modulation depths. In recognition that payment schemes have now joined forces Driving high speed there may be more than one contactless card in a person’s wallet, “ anti-collision ” transaction capability 1) The General Electric Company of the United protocols were introduced to detect and Kingdom (GEC). The requirements for proximi- select one card from many. The stand- ty contactless technology are driven by ard evolved and embraced two similar the high speed touch-and-go operation communications techniques known as of the card with the terminal. type A and type B, but mandated that About the author both would be accepted by a standard Transport authorities throughout Chris Stanford terminal. For the lower OSI layers con- the world latched on to the fact that they is currently Con- could validate tickets and speed through- tactless cards are of necessity different venor of the ISO put at barriers, and at the same time cut from contact card standards, however, task force for costs by the replacement of mechanically for the higher layers the command set vicinity cards. He complex magnetic ticket readers. Con- converges with and uses the contact card has run his own sumers would be able to use their card standards for compatibility. consultancy com- without letting it go or losing sight of it It has been said that the con- pany for the last and simply present it to the terminal to tactless interface is an “ order of mag- 15 years and is perform a transaction. Any market look- nitude ”, more difficult to characterize one of the ing for high speed transaction capability, and test under all conditions than con- world’s foremost pioneers in the field of card-based payment systems. He was could become the driver for the proxim- tact cards. To this end much work was responsible for the development of a number ity card standard. done to develop the test methods in ISO/ of card schemes in regular use, including By looking at the challenges pre- IEC 10373-6, Identification cards – Test phone cards used in many parts of the world sented for the accomplishment of long- methods – Part 6: Proximity cards. Work and contactless cards in transportation. er range operation the contactless cards still continues to refine the test methods He is acknowledged in the United Kingdom became inextricably linked to those parts and develop a more embracing test envi- as an expert in all aspects of smartcard of the radio frequency (RF) spectrum avail- ronment for the interface. technology and innovation. .

36 ISO Focus February 2006 Inn vation to use a common specification for con- a single card technology that could contactless cards based on ISO/IEC 14443. figure itself to suit the environment with- Very successful trials of contactless card in which the target was sited. Thus, in a technology for payments have been car- high noise environment, operating range and ried out and a number of major banks in was sacrificed in order to increase noise standardization the USA are planning large scale roll- immunity and vice versa. outs involving millions of cards. Access control tion for item management – Part 3: Para- Immigration metres for air interface communications The most popular use of this stand- at 13.56 MHz. The same requirements for ease ard to date is in access control applications, of use and speed of data transfer have where the hands-free nature of reading is a Connecting to a vast range been identified by the International Civil bonus and the ability to write to the cards Aviation Organisation (ICAO) in defin- at close range allows for more sophisti- of consumer devices ing the electronic equivalent of the pass- cated dynamic access rights management. Perhaps one of the most exciting port. Impelled by the Patriot Act 2) in the The mass market for access control cards new developments to evolve from the work USA there is currently much activity to is many millions per annum and whilst on contactless card standards is the emer- prescribe the use of contactless technolo- this technology has only recently begun gence of the Near Field Communications gy for storing identity data, facial images to make inroads into the existing market, (NFC) standard. Initially developed by the and other biometric data in an electronic its main success is in the USA. European Telecommunications Standard passport. Add to this the possibility that Institute (ETSI), this standard made a fast the same passport may well contain elec- Baggage tracking track through ISO and was published as tronic visas, ISO/IEC 14443 provides a The development of the vicinity card ISO/IEC 18092:2004. Although not a card good foundation. standard was also driven by the require- standard, NFC uses proximity technology (ISO/IEC 14443) as a one of its foun- Vicinity contactless cards ment from airlines to migrate to a means of identifying hand baggage that avoided dation stones, another came from Japan. Whilst the laws of electromagnet- the use of barcode labels. Especially where NFC is a communications interface that ism and today’s technology allow the prox- bags are transferred between aircraft, sig- capitalizes on the low cost (a few gates in imity card to provide an ideal platform to nificant numbers of barcode labels become silicon) of adding contactless operation to perform transactions involving reading and unreadable by the automatic scanners and a device designed for other applications. writing to the card at close (100mm) range, have to be handled manually. A signifi- Importantly an NFC coupled device can the vicinity card exploits similar technology cant increase in reliable identification of act like a card whilst being powered from to allow them to be powered and read from baggage and hence reduced costs results another terminal or act as a terminal and a distance of up to 1m (whilst acknowl- if radio frequency identity tags replace power a card, or both. edging that writing to a card that far away the bar codes. Whilst there are a number The market for NFC is seen as is beyond the reach of current technolo- of different RF tagging technologies that bringing ease of connection to a vast range gy). The vicinity card standard, built on could be used, it is encouraging to see that of consumer devices, thus a set top box the lessons learnt from its predecessors, the work in JTC 1, Information technol- could communicate with a TV screen by uses the same frequency. The drivers for ogy, SC 17, Cards and personal identifi- merely being placed upon it. A personal evolving this technology brought togeth- cation, and SC 31, Automatic identifica- digital assistant might be able to collect er two industries: the card industry, with a tion and data capture techniques, has con- pictures from a display screen, again by requirement for “hands-free” operation in verged, with SC 31 embracing ISO/IEC a touch-and-go connection. Much ear- applications like access control and pub- 15693, Identification cards – Contact- ly interest is in incorporating NFC into lic transport, and the RFID industry with less integrated circuit(s) cards – Vicinity mobile phones. Such devices are now a requirement for asset tracking systems cards, within its series of RFID standards under trial as a payment mechanism or that do not use bar codes. as ISO/IEC 18000-3:2004, Information public transport ticketing device, since The standard was completed technology – Radio frequency identifica- around one quarter of the world’s popu- quickly and relied heavily on the work lation now carries a mobile phone, a lot Loughborough University. done for ISO/IEC 14443. The develop- of the infrastructure may be paid for by ment of this standard involved a compro- the consumer and we are likely to see far mise between the technology developed more of this recent development. by two organizations (Philips and Texas The progressive introduction of Instruments) who agreed to converge on innovation in the family of international card standards has provided a foundation 2) USA Patriot Act, 2001: An act passed by the for the supply of global financial, commu- US Government to provide the appropriate tools nications and travel services to a significant to intercept and obstruct terrorism. proportion of the world’s population.

ISO Focus February 2006 37 Main Focus MPEG Video CD Constantly MPEG-1 MPEG creating new ways for digital audio and video MPEG-4 by Leonardo Chiariglione – Convenor of ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 29, Code of audio, picture, multimedia and hypermedia information WG 11, Coding of moving pictures and audio

he media industry is riddled with acronyms sourced by the TMoving Picture Experts Group (MPEG). MPEG-1 is used by Video CD and contains MP3, which is the compression scheme used to transfer DSM-CCThe practical advantage of iden- and Control (DSM-CC), essentially a audio files via internet to store in port- collection of application protocols for tifiers is being recognized in the ana- able players and digital audio servers. use in digital television dating back logue space by the proliferation of num- MPEG-2 is used in digital television to 1995. bering schemes such as the ISO 2108, (DTV) set top boxes and Digital Ver- International Standard Book Number satile Disc (DVD). MPEG-4 Visual is (ISBN) used to identify printed books used in digital cameras, video recorders A multimedia framework or the recently approved ISO 15706, and cell phones, and contains advanced International Standard Audiovisual audio coding (AAC), a part of MPEG-4 In 1999, MPEG embarked on a Number (ISAN) used to identify audi- which compresses audio files twice as project designed to provide all the tech- ovisual works. Identifiers are simply well as MP3 and high efficiency HE- nologies required to manage the life indispensable in digital space. AAC which offers further compression. cycle of digital media in a value chain. MPEG-21 part 3, Digital Item Advanced video coding (AVC) found in The project is called MPEG-21 and has Identification (DII) specifies how to MPEG-4 part 10 is the best video com- an appropriate number ISO/IEC 21000, uniquely identify DIs and their compo- pressor known. Multimedia Framework. nent elements. DII, however, does not This babel of acronyms notwith- The first part of the standard is specify new identification systems for standing, the typical image of MPEG a technical report that lays down the elements for which identification and in the industry is one of an indefatiga- scope of the MPEG-21 project, but description schemes already exist, such ble group constantly bent on finding the technical foundations are found as those mentioned above. new ways to produce audio and video in part 2, Digital Item Declaration In many practical cases, partic- streams – not to mention synthetic audio (DID). A Digital Item (DI) is a struc- ularly when dealing with delivery of and visual streams – requiring fewer ture of information that contains the content to end users, moving content bits, while preserving the original qual- resources (i.e. the MPEG audio, vid- across the value chain requires the use of ity of the signal. eo, etc.), the identifiers of resources, technologies to manage and protect the In its 18 years of activity, MPEG metadata, Digital Rights Management Intellectual Property (IP) embedded in has done a lot of the above and also pro- (DRM) information, licenses, etc. A DI media content. MPEG calls these tech- duced a number of standards that were is expressed using the W3C eXtensi- nologies Intellectual Property Manage- not immediately related to audio and ble Markup Language (XML), a rec- ment and Protection (IPMP). MPEG- visual compression, but were required ommended general-purpose markup 21 part 4, IPMP components, provides for realizing the use of the compres- language for creating special-purpose a broad range of technologies that can sion technology. A notable example is markup languages, capable of describ- be assembled to achieve specific goals the Digital Storage Media Command ing many different kinds of data. in this area.

38 ISO Focus February 2006 Inn vation

the right to listen to his song once for 10 cents, or the right to listen 10 times for 50 cents, and for 1 euro for the right to HE-AAC listen to it indefinitely. and The above case is straightforward, standardization but there are numerous more complicated cases. Assume that the terms and conditions MPEG-2 the seller wants to express contain “ you Music, photos and may copy this song 3 times .” The mean- more… ing of the word “copy” may be shared by humans (actually it is not), but for a machine MPEG-A attempts to respond this is certainly not the case.There is a to these shortcomings. The first stand- MP3 ard is called Music Player Application need to provide a clear and unambiguous description of the meaning of the words Format and is driven by the desire to that are used in a rights expression (the enable users to achieve an augmented semantics) so that the person who issues experience of their sound resources by the license to a content item can be con- providing an “ extended ” MP3 format. fident that all devices conforming to the This is achieved by making a standard MPEG-21 standard when receiving the combination of certain MPEG technolo- license will behave in a predictable fash- gies, foremost the MP3 Audio compres- ion. This is the purpose of MPEG-21 part sion, but also the MPEG-4/MPEG-21 file 6, Rights Data Dictionary. formats and the ID3 (a widely used set of metadata for describing MP3 songs)

© ISO “ MPEG is expected to subset of MPEG-7 metadata. Addition- ally, there is the related technology – MPEG and IP further develop its audio JPEG still-picture compression. management and video coding standards The MPEG music player has so that they will be more already achieved International Standard Another important tool for IP man- status and several extensions are being agement is provided by MPEG part 5, useful for the coming considered, including the use of technol- Rights Expression Language (REL). As digital media era.” ogies designed to enable the distribution in the physical world the buyer becomes of protected songs, a well-known prob- the owner of a car on the basis of a pur- The MPEG-21 standard has cur- lem faced by the music industry. chase contract where terms and condi- rently 18 parts with several amendments MPEG is in the process of devel- tions binding the seller and the buyer are under way, and it probably would be too oping another MPEG-A standard, the described, in the virtual space of bits it is bold an assumption to expect that a sig- MPEG photo player. This is driven by necessary to have a technology where- nificant number of readers of this paper the needs of people using digital pho- by terms and conditions that appear in a definitely would not have turned to anoth- to cameras to navigate the multitude “ license ” issued by the seller to the buyer er paper before reaching the end of part of photos they generate. In this case, of the seller’s song can be described. In 18. Instead I would like to address anoth- too, MPEG has drawn from its toolkit this way the seller could decide to license er important recent area of MPEG stand- and built an effective solution. The key ards, namely ISO/IEC 23000 MPEG-A technology is again the MPEG-4 file About the author Multimedia Application Formats. format, supplemented by a number of This new family of MPEG stand- technologies drawn from the MPEG Leonardo ards has been triggered by the considera- flagship metadata standard MPEG-7, Chiariglione tion that while MPEG has developed an especially from MPEG-7 Visual, that obtained his Ph D impressive portfolio of digital media relat- enable an effective way to describe the degree from the ed technologies that has led it to become visual properties of an image. Added to University of the reference standards committee for these are JPEG and EXIF (EXchange- Tokyo in 1973. the media industry, integration of differ- able Image Format), the latter available During his pro- ent MPEG technologies has been left to fessional career in many photo cameras. individual implementers. In some cas- he launched Expect MPEG to continue grind- several initia- es this may lead to shortcomings, such ing audio and video bits, and also expect tives, including MPEG in 1988, and his as the long period of time it may take to more news from MPEG about making its last the Digital Media Project in 2003. He go from an MPEG standard to a product audio and video standards more useful currently advises a number of companies or the incompatibility between different for the coming digital media era. in the area of digital media. implementations.

ISO Focus February 2006 39 Main Focus The paradox of standardization and innovation

by Henk de Vries, Associate Professor of Standardization at the Erasmus University, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

he term ‘innovation’ was defined by the Austrian economist Schum- Tpeter1) as ‘ the commercialization of all new combinations based upon the application of new materials and components, the introduction of new processes, the opening of new markets, and/or the standard would be attractive only if others zation could be combined with ‘another’ introduction of new organizational forms.’ would use it – typists as well as keyboard form of innovation, which it could support. Thus, according to this definition, inno- manufacturers – but this applies to eve- We will explore this by investigating the vation is more than an invention : it is a ryone ; so everyone waits for everybody possible contribution of standardization commercialized invention. else and, in the end, no one starts. Thus, in the way organizations systematically A standard contains a solution everyone is ‘ locked-in ’ in the old technol- strive for innovation through research and that is intended and expected to be used ogy. However, there is another side of the development (R&D). repeatedly. Therefore, there is something coin. QWERTY is just the standard for ‘ static ’ in standardization, as the solution the interface between man and machine. Four generations of R&D is ‘ frozen ’ during a certain period of time, Since its introduction, the machine itself management until developments make it necessary to has been innovated, from mechanical to Roussel, Saad and Erickson dis- develop another solution and the old one electronic. The standard was a prerequisite tinguish three generations of R&D man- makes way for the new one. During this for this innovation ; an improved machine agement : 2) period of ‘ frost’, the emergence of new without a standard keyboard would not be solutions is hindered. In this way, stand- acceptable for potential buyers. Moreover, 1 Management of hope : where the intu- ardization indeed hinders innovation. the standard interface, used worldwide, ition of R&D managers is the lead- A classic example of this is the enables suppliers (of hardware, but also ing force. They focus on fundamental QWERTY keyboard. QWERTY was of software and education) to profit from research, more or less apart from the developed in the 1870s to slow down the economies of scale, so that inventions business context, receiving a budget for speed of typists in order to reduce the inci- have a greater chance of becoming inno- their work which has few targets, and dence of jamming. This would improve vations – innovations that are successful a lot of freedom in how they spend it. the reliability of the machine. The design in the market. Without the standard, the 2 The second generation of R&D man- was based on the frequency of use of the invention as such could not have become agement focuses more on business letters of the alphabet in the English lan- a market success. The standard hindered results, though intuition is still impor- guage. Since electrotechnical and elec- the innovation of the interface, but stim- tant. The R&D department has a clear tronic machines have replaced mechan- ulated innovation of (parts of) the tech- customer: the company as a whole, ical constructions, the reasons for the nology as far as possible, without affect- and only projects from which results QWERTY design no longer make sense. ing the interface. are expected may take off. Project and Better keyboards have been invented with Many standards are performance- quality management are used. improved ergonomics that allow for more based rather than design or prescriptive speed. However, QWERTY is the com- and, therefore, do not hinder innovation. 1) Schumpeter, J. (1934) The Theory of mon solution implemented everywhere, Moreover, according to Schumpeter, inno- Economic Development. Harvard University so the costs of conversion are too high. vation may concern, for instance, materi- Press, Cambridge, MA. More than the costs of replacing the hard- als, components, processes, markets, and/ 2) Roussel, Philip, Kamal Saad, Tamara Erickson (1991) Third generation R&D ware are the education costs of learning or organizational forms. There are many management – Managing the link between R&D to work with the new standard. Moreover, kinds of standardization and many situa- and corporate strategy. Harvard Business School there is a ‘prisoner’s dilemma.’ The new tions where a certain form of standardi- Press, Boston, MA.

40 ISO Focus February 2006 Inn vation

3 The third generation of R&D manage- st ment gives systematic attention to the 1 generation R&D co-operation between R&D and other management departments within the company, such and as, production and marketing. There- standardization fore, there is more focus on the market, and R&D focuses on, for instance, Though freedom and intuition are nd the technology life cycle and related dominant in the first generation R&D 2 generation R&D benefits, costs and risks. management, standardization may support management Janszen 3) discusses the contribu- such R&D in the following cases . tions of Roussel, Saad and Erickson and Standards as a source concludes that a new fourth generation of R&D management should be distin- of knowledge Second generation R&D is car- guished, in which relations between the Researchers try to develop new ried out more systematically and its out- company and the outside world and its knowledge ; however, it is not wise to re- put must benefit the company. Standards uncertainties play a dominant role. This invent the wheel. Patents are one source can support this systematic approach. is evident for all companies that must of information and standards are another. The cooperation with marketing and pay attention to corporate responsibili- Moreover, everyone can use the knowl- sales opens the window for the market ty, many including it in their corporate edge laid down in standards, whereas a and its requirements, the latter of which strategy. In the case of the petrol indus- licence (possibly for a fee) may have to may be contained in standards. So the try, sooner or later petrol will have to be be obtained in the case of patents. Biblio- success of this generation of R&D may replaced with alternative sources of ener- graphic information and communication rely upon internal as well as external gy – how should corporations anticipate technology tools have improved access standardization, and the role of stand- this point ? In fourth generation R&D to standards. The knowledge contained ardization mentioned for the first gen- management the creation and manage- in standards includes materials proper- eration still applies. ment of a network of external relations ties and examples of technical solutions is of vital importance. The characteristics and methods. “ Innovation and of the ‘ new economy ’ are at stake, and The shift from 1999 to 2000 cost standards provide therefore we will call this generation of millions of Euros in order to inspect, solutions for the same R&D management ‘ new-economy R&D modify and test software. This exercise management.’ would have been completely unneces- problem.” sary if software developers had imple- 3) Janszen, Felix (2000) The age of innovation. mented ISO 8601:2004, Data elements Standards for process Pearson Education Ltd., Harlow / London. and interchange formats – Information management interchange – Representation of dates and times. A company may make its own About the author standards to support the management Henk J. de Vries Standards for testing of its (R&D and other) processes. These is Associate Once something has been invent- may be inspired by or based on Interna- Professor of ed its characteristics have to be tested. tional Standards, for instance, ISO stand- Standardization Standards contain thousands of test meth- ards on quality management. at the Erasmus ods, which are agreed upon and may be University, ISO 9001 and innovation Rotterdam more advantageous than self-developed methods. The well-known ISO 9000 series School of of standards may help setting up process Management, management in the R&D department. Department of Standards for the research Technology Management and Innovation. environment More specifically, ISO has developed guidance for quality management in project- For 19 years he served NEN, the Nether- Nowadays, International Stand- based organizations (ISO 10006:1998, lands Standardization Institute, in several ards are all around us ; most research- functions, combining this between 1994 and currently being revised in order to align ers will not be aware of the underlying 2004 with research and teaching standardi- it with ISO 9001:2000). A Dutch study standards and the tremendous efforts that zation from a business point of view at shows that a quality management sys- have been made to develop them. Exam- Erasmus University. He is the author of tem based on ISO 9001:1994 positive- ples include standards for quantities and more than 180 publications on standardization. ly influences organizational innovations E-mail [email protected] units, for technical drawings (often incor- Website : http://www.eur.nl/fbk/dep/dep6/ porated in software) and for laboratories 4) Information on standards for laboratories can members/devries. and laboratory equipment.4) be found at http://eulab.nen.nl.

ISO Focus February 2006 41 Main Focus provided that the system has not been Standards to reduce costs by putting it in a standard. In certain sit- set up in a rigid way ; in the latter case In general, ‘ standard ’ is cheaper uations, standards bodies allow licences its influence on organizational innova- than ‘ variety ’ due to economies of scale. to be included in standards. The patent 5) tions is negative. However, since market needs differ, diver- holder should provide a signed statement sity is also necessary. Many organizations that he is willing to negotiate licences Standards for market acceptance balance diversity of customer wishes under patent and like rights with appli- Most products and increasingly with unity, by means of cost reduction cants throughout the world on reasonable services must meet the criteria contained by introducing modularity and using terms. Market circumstances determine in standards before the market is willing standard parts (see Figure 1). what is reasonable and non-discriminato- to accept them. Thus, the only way to be ry. The ultimate case is to offer the whole innovative with an invention is to fulfil Standards battle for market design for free for inclusion in a stand- these criteria, which means that develop- access ard in order to obtain acceptance. Then ment must be aware of them and preferably the business results should come from During the product life cycle the research must too. Though most standards first mover advantages, better produc- company should remain aware of stand- are not compulsory, the fact that they exist tion facilities, etc. ards that may influence market share. New and have a certain level of acceptance in standards may impose requirements that the market means that companies should make it more difficult for the company or 4th generation R&D study them and decide on their use. its competitors to enter the market. The management worst case, is when a product no longer

rd meets the criteria of the new standard. 3 generation R&D The company may participate in stand- management ardization to influence the standards for increased own market share. Paying attention to external stakeholders is part of the third generation R&D Balancing property rights and management, but the fourth generation dif- Third generation R&D is fully standards fers from the third in that the company con- integrated in the company. Therefore, Standards and patents both con- sciously creates and maintains a network of internal communication and stand- tain mostly technical solutions. A com- external relations. In an increasing number ards for this become more important. pany that has invented something can of cases, network effects occur where mech- The focus on cost savings also relates choose between patents and standardi- anisms like self-enforcing feedback loops to standardization. The external envi- zation or a combination thereof, depend- apply. Standardization is an instrument to ronment is no longer taken for grant- ing on which option results in the greatest profit (or not) from such network effects. ed, but a more proactive role is taken market success. If a company is a dom- Further, the supporting role of standard- by, for example, participating in stand- inant player, or expects to have a domi- ization in supply chain management and ards committees. A strategy to balance nant design, it can try to acquire market marketing should be mentioned. property protection with (‘ free ’) stand- acceptance for the product and its speci- Standardization and network ards is needed. fications by itself. Once a large group of customers buys this product, the product effects Standards for internal itself or its specifications may become a In a telephone system with n users, communication de facto ‘standard’ in the market. Micro- the number of possible connections for one The increased communication soft’s Windows and related software are user is n-1, the total number of connections between R&D and other departments the best example of this. If a company is needs to be structured, in order to avoid less sure about its ability to obtain accept- misunderstandings and chaos. Standard ance, it may make its money by offering forms, company terminology, intran- licences to others. In other cases it may be et, and product data interchange are wise to give general access to the design among the options, all requiring stand- Figure 1: Goliath Monobox rationalization ardization at company level that may of design. This example, more than 20 use international, regional or nation- years old is still current, thanks to new al standards. developments, such as flexible production automation, allowing for flexibility in other ways while maintaining economies of scale.

5) Bodewes, Wynand E.J. (2000) Neither Chaos nor Rigidity – An Empirical Study on the Effect Source: Sumner, L. (1981) ‘The management of of Partial Formalization on Organizational design for economic production.’ PD 6470. BSI, Innovativeness. Dutch University Press, Tilburg. London, UK.

42 ISO Focus February 2006 © Airbus S.A.S 2005 – H. Goussé Airbus © Inn vation Airbus profits from Standards for supply chain ISO 10303 for product management model data exchange Companies are no longer ‘islands’ but are connected in a technical and and ISO 10303, STEP – the stand- standardization ard for the exchange of product mod- organizational way and together try to el data – is a comprehensive series of manage this intertwinement. Therefore, documents which enables industry to supply chain management gets more advertising media choice, brand names, exchange and share information to define attention. The links in the chain must and packaging. Back-office there is the a product, throughout the supply chain match and, thus, require standardiza- question of how to organize (internation- to the end customer and throughout the tion. Standards concern : al) marketing, with or without standard entire life cycle of the product. Among • products and services specifications, procedures, information flows, codes of others, the aerospace industry uses STEP. for which hundreds of ISO standards behaviour, etc. All of these are stand- Large aerospace projects involve up to are available ; ardization considerations. Modern mar- 10 000 suppliers and hundreds of cus- keteers talk about ‘mass customization’: tomers. Airbus, for example, uses STEP • topics related to the products and serv- different per potential client while prof- for CAD-PDM exchange for the A380 ices, such as price, transport, packag- iting from economies of scale.7) In gen- programme, and intends to use it more ing, and logistic data ; eral, all this has little to do with inter- in the future.6) • communication between the parties national standards though there may be involved using standard forms, elec- exceptions. For instance, the European 6) Mason, Howard (2002) ‘ISO 10303 – STEP tronic data interchange, or product Federation of Associations of Market – A key standard for the global market.’ ISO data interchange (see box top left) ; Research Organizations (EFAMRO) Bulletin, 33, 4, April 2002, pp. 9-13. and the Associón Española de Normal- • quality characteristics throughout the ización y Certificación (AENOR) pre- is n (n-1). Thus, the total functionality of chain: product or service or organiza- pared a proposal, which ISO accepted the system is proportional to the number tional quality, using for instance ISO to establish what is now ISO technical of users raised to the square. This is typi- 9000 standards ; committee ISO/TC 225, Market opin- cal of direct network effects, but indirect • environmental issues including envi- ion and social research. It is develop- network effects can also apply. The value ronmental management and performing standards providing the require- of, for instance, a barcode system increas- ance evaluation, and life cycle analy- ments for organizations conducting es with the availability of scanning equip- sis using the ISO 14000 series. market research. In marketing, marks ment. The more barcode users, the more and certificates play an important role scanners will be available and the lower and standards are needed to provide the their price. Thus, without improved system “ Inventions without criteria for these. functionality for the individual users, they standards have no chance profit from growth of the number of users : of becoming innovations.” Standardization may hinder indirect network effects. In the case of a innovation in the case standards ‘freeze’ competing system, network effects apply a technical solution. In general, how- within each system. Due to the characteris- Other areas of standardization ever, standardization not only supports tics of network effects, one common solu- sometimes also apply, for instance occupa- innovation but may even be a prerequi- tion would be better, since the total func- tional health and safety, risk management, site for innovation, as an invention only tionality of one system is more than the and ethical codes of behaviour. becomes an innovation when it gets sum of the functionalities of two separate business success. We have shown this systems. Typically, the parts of such sys- Standardization in marketing by describing the possible role of stand- tems have to fit in a certain way, so these Coca Cola and McDonald’s use ardization in four generations of R&D are systems for which standards in gener- a standard concept worldwide, which management. In each generation, the al, and compatibility standards in partic- makes things clear for customers. Inter- supporting role of standardization in ular, are indispensable. Inventions with- nally, these companies can assure their the preceding generation(s) applies as out standards have no chance of becom- quality levels and they profit from econ- well, so in the 4th generation standard- ing innovations. omies of scale. However, customers ization may contribute in thirteen dif- There are several examples of differ and their wishes may differ, per ferent ways to innovation. standards in situations where network country, per market segment and per effects apply : QWERTY or the key individual. Thus, companies have to scheme for the standard English lan- balance uniformity and diversity, not 7) Vries, Henk de (1998) ‘Klantafstemming voor guage keyboard, colour television, com- only in the product portfolio, but also in minder geld – Standaardisatie in de marketing.’ pact cassettes, and global systems for geographical spread, market segments, Tijdschrift voor marketing, 32, 2, February 1998, mobile communication. packaging, basic advertising messages, pp. 40-43.

pounds, especially in the electronics als needed substantial refinement or Fine ceramics sector. Because they are made gener- modification to ensure that appropri- ally via a powder route and are non- ate issues were focused upon. Conse- A new materials ductile, compared with most metallic quently, independent national actions industry for alloys, they are more difficult to han- began to appear (see Table 2). st dle and use, and care has to be taken By 1989, the dispersed and the 21 century over matters of design of components. potentially diverging European effort Understanding material properties and was consolidated within the European performance is more critical, hence the Committee for Standardization techni- activity to create standards, not only for cal committee CEN/TC 184, Advanced by Dr. Roger Morrell, Convenor of material property testing, but increas- technical ceramics, and with the aid of the Advisory Group in ISO/TC 206 ingly for component testing. European mandate funding, consider- able progress was made towards a uni- ine ceramics (also known as fied set of testing procedures. By 1995, advanced ceramics or advanced Standardization – more than 50 provisional and full Euro- technical ceramics) is a class of very F the early years pean standards had been prepared within important materials that is seldom noticed five working groups, covering : by the general public. They help most The first area of standardiza- things in modern life function (ortho- tion for this growing class of materials • Classification and terminology ; came via the electrical insulation route paedic joint replacements, central heat- • Powders ; ing pump rotors, shower faucets), sup- (see Table 1) where existing standards port most of manufacturing industry in for conventional insulators were found • Monolithic ceramics ; some way (cutting tools, nozzles, paper to be inadequate, dealt with the wrong • Composite ceramics ; and, making equipment, coatings for tools properties, or used test-pieces that were and rolls), our security (ballistic pro- inordinately large. • Ceramic coatings. tection), and our environment (water However, with the progressive purifiers, catalysts and catalyst sup- improvement in functionality of this Work in ASTM set out along a ports), as well as being the backbone material class, i.e. higher strength, basically parallel path and, supported by of electronics (spark plugs, insulating higher temperature capability, better the voluntary research and round rob- substrates, formers, housings). reliability, improved and more diverse in activities conducted under the aus- 1) 2) Fine ceramics have been devel- electrical characteristics, and with the pices of VAMAS and IEA , there was oped over the past half century to meet advent of an ever broadening range of good exchange of technical detail with particular market needs, beginning with applications and national development CEN, and the directions of the emerging materials based on aluminium oxide, programmes, it was felt that standard standards were not dissimilar. and now covering a huge range of com- methods used for electrical materi-

44 ISO Focus February 2006 Inn vation

Standard Title Content number BS4789 Ceramic components for use in Alumina ceramics for microwave and envelopes for electronic tubes windows standardization ASTM Alumina ceramics for electron- Aluminium oxide based materi- D2442 ic and electrical applications, als, dielectric property focus some difficulties including rather lim- specification for ited roundtable discussions, language ASTM F394 Biaxial flexure strength modu- Alumina ceramics, punch on barriers and duplication of work. lus of rupture) of ceramic sub- three balls method strates, test for “ As technology moves ASTM F356 Beryllia ceramics for electron- Beryllium oxide based materi- with increasing pace ic and electrical applications, als, dielectric property focus specification for and diversity, standards making has Table 1: Some early standards for advanced technical ceramics. to keep pace.” Country Date Committee

Japan 1979 JIS R, Fine ceramics United Kindom 1984 RPM/13, now RPI/13, Technical ceramics France 1986 AFNOR USA 1986 ASTM C28, Advanced ceramic Germany 1987 DIN NMP291 Netherlands 1988 NNI Europe 1989 CEN/TC 184, Advanced technical ceramics Table 2: Development of national and regional standards activities for fine ceramics.

Harmonization on the international scene In 1993, Japan proposed and had (partic-

accepted the need for an ISO technical ipating) mem- © Medtronic, Inc. committee to unify activities across the bership from the world and to avoid the potential burden initial minimum Much of the effort in CEN/TC that differing regional standards place on of five against some 184 is now directed at either proposing those who implement them for commer- reluctance, particular- CEN standards into the ISO forum, or cial purposes. The job of weaning this ly from Europe where reviewing whether an ISO-developed new committee was taken up by its first the CEN programme and standard can be dual numbered as a Chair, Sam Schneider from the National its mandated funding con- CEN standard and can supersede the Institute of Standards and Technology tinued to dominate thinking current CEN version. In cases where (NIST) in the USA (see box overleaf). and limited effort amongst CEN/TC 184 agrees to differ, the deci- He managed to slowly encourage P- its participants. After 10 sion is then between the inclusion of years, ISO/TC 206 now has a regional foreword or maintaining a 1 Versailles Agreement on Advanced Materials quite an enviable track record, separate standard, but where technical and Standards (VAMAS) Relevant technical with more than 40 standards differences are as far as possible mini- working areas for fine/advanced/advanced published or in the final stag- mized (for example, on test-piece siz- technical ceramics include TWA3 : Ceramics, es of agreement. In no small es or test conditions). TWA14, Classification (www.vamas.org). part this is owing to the col- Holding ISO meetings close to 2 International Energy Agency (IEA). This laboration between Japan, pro- or in conjunction with international organization has run cooperative research viding the Secretariat, and the conferences can be helpful in reduc- programmes from about 1993, initially between the USA, Germany and Sweden, and later USA, providing the Chair. This ing costs for busy delegates as well as

involving also Belgium and Japan (www.iea.org). © Medtronic, Inc. has not been achieved without reducing the duration away from their

ISO Focus February 2006 45 Samuel J. Schneider, Jr. an appreciation Main Focus It is with deep regret that we mourn the passing of ISO technical committee’s ISO/TC 206’s first Chair Samuel desks. The greater tendency to use the J. Schneider, Jr., aged 75, outside of Washington, the USA. worldwide web and email is helpful, After suffering from pneumonia, he was transferred but only if delegates keep their eyes to Shady Grove Adventist Hospital1) , where he died on 15 on the ball. October 2005. A dedicated internationalist from the National Insti- New directions tute for Standards and Technology, USA, in the mid 1980s he foresaw the need for better ways of identifying these new ceramic materials and products. It was As technology moves with increas- his drive and chairmanship that initiated international collaboration in developing pace and diversity, standards making ing a radically new system under the auspices of VAMAS that was published as has to keep pace, and ISO/TC 206 is no the very first ISO Technology Trends Assessment 2) . This document was devel- exception. The development of photo- oped into a CEN pre-Standard and is now an ISO standard (ISO 15165). catalytic coating materials over the last During the early 1990s, with separate burgeoning developments of advanced decade, particularly in Japan, has led to ceramics standards in different parts of the world (ASTM C28, CEN/TC 184, and a need to quantify their behaviour. Since JIS), Sam was quick to realize that this was not a helpful scenario, and could lead most of these materials start life as fine to divergence of technical requirements. In collaboration with Japanese counter- ceramic powders, in the last year, ISO/TC parts, he proposed the formation of a new ISO committee on the subject. Thanks 206 has become the home for new work to his dedication and commitment, ISO/TC 206 was established, which held its on this topic, and several drafts are now first plenary meeting under his chairmanship in 1994, with support from the Jap- in development. Another area which is anese Secretariat led by Takashi Kanno. Cautiously pulling the small initial P- becoming more important is the provi- membership together, and encouraging recalcitrant Europeans to join in, he started small with four working groups, but following his lead, as the accompanying article shows, this has been one of the more successful ISO committees 3). Sam remained Chair until 2002. Not only was he a strong-minded visionary, he was a good friend and work colleague.

(1) Obituary, Samuel J. Schneider Jr., Washington Post, 22 October 2005, B05. (2) ISO TTA1, “Advanced technical ceramics – Unified classification system”, 1994. (3) Samuel J. Schneider, “Assessment of international standardization needs for ceramics – Status of ISO/TC 206 on fine ceramics”, ISO Bulletin February 2003, pp20-22.

ISO/TC 206 Plenary meeting in Maui, Hawaii, USA. sion of standards for porous materials, continue to have much work on its plate with either structured channels or ran- for a good while to come ! About the author dom pores, such as those used for filtra- tion or catalyst supports. Testing meth- “ Fine ceramics have Dr. Roger Morrell is an ods for such relatively weak materials been developed over the NPL Fellow at need to be different to those for strong past half century to meet the National dense materials, but no standards seem- Physical Labora- ingly exist at present. ISO/TC 206 will particular market needs.” tory in the United Kingdom. He is a specialist in testing methods for ceramics, and has published over 100 scientific papers, focusing on measurement and characterization methods, including microstructural analysis, mechanical testing and fractography. He has been involved in the development of standards for more than 30 years, including British Stand- ards, CEN, ASTM, ISO and the Internation- al Electronic Commission (IEC), and in the various related VAMAS activities since their commencment in 1986. He is currently Convenor of CEN/TC 184/WG 3 and of the Advisory Group in ISO/TC 206. ISO/TC 206 Plenary meeting in Berlin, Germany.

46 ISO Focus February 2006 Inn vation ISO/IEC policy on reference to and patented items standardization

SO and IEC produce globally rele- International Standards facilitate ISO and IEC consider that ade- vant, consensus-based International trade and the dissemination of technol- quate information should be available, IStandards, using a standards devel- ogy and good practices, in particular concerning their standards and their use opment process that complies with to developing countries. In some sit- guaranteed worldwide on reasonable the criteria outlined in Annex 4 of the uations, the technical content of the and non-discriminatory terms. They second triennial review of the World standards may be covered by patent have accordingly developed a joint pat- Trade Organization’s Technical Barri- rights, especially when they deal with ent policy to that effect. ers to Trade (TBT) Agreement, which new technologies; thus, it is acceptable This policy is described in clause encourages their use. in principle that standards contain pat- 2.14 of Part 1 of the ISO/IEC Directives, ented elements. Procedures for the technical work.

Extract from ISO/IEC 2.14 Reference to patented rights Directives, Part 1

2.14.1 In exceptional situations tech- 2.14.2 If technical reasons justify the preparation of a document in terms nical reasons justify such a step, there which include the use of items covered by patent rights, the following proce- is no objection in principle to prepar- dures shall be complied with. ing an International Standard in terms which include the use of items cov- a) The originator of a proposal for a document shall draw the attention ered by patent rights – defined as pat- of the committee to any patent rights of which the originator is aware ents, utility models and other statutory and considers to cover any item of the proposal. Any party involved in rights based on inventions, including the preparation of a document shall draw the attention of the committee to any published applications for any of any patent rights of which it becomes aware during any stage in the develop- the foregoing – even if the terms of ment of the document. the standard are such that there are no alternative means of compliance. b) If the proposal is accepted on technical grounds, the originator shall ask The rules given below and in the ISO/ any holder of such identified patent rights for a statement that the holder would IEC Directives, Part 2, 2004, Annex be willing to negotiate worldwide licenses under his rights with applicants F shall be applied. throughout the world on reasonable and non-discriminatory terms and conditions. Such negotiations are left to the parties concerned and are performed outside ISO and/or IEC. A record of the right holder’s statement shall be placed in the registry of the ISO Central Secretariat or IEC Central Office as appropriate, and shall be referred to in the introduction to the relevant document 2.14.3 Should it be revealed after (see ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2, 2004, F.3). If the right holder does not pro- publication of a document that licens- vide such a statement, the committee concerned shall not proceed with inclu- es under patent rights, which appear sion of an item covered by a patent right in the document without authoriza- to cover items included in the docu- tion from ISO Council or IEC Council Board as appropriate. ment, cannot be obtained under reasonable and non-discriminatory terms c) A document shall not be published until the statements of the holders of and conditions, the document shall be all identified patent rights have been received, unless the council board con- referred back to the relevant commit- cerned gives authorization. tee for further consideration.

ISO Focus February 2006 47 Developments and Initiatives State-of-the-art information security management systems with ISO/IEC 27001:2005 by Ted Humphreys, Convenor of ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 27/ WG 1

he recent publication of ISO/IEC – Code of practice for information secu- of corporate governance, protection of 27001:2005, Information technol- rity management, to be applied and man- information assets, legal and contractual T ogy –Security techniques – Infor- aged as part of an organization’s overall obligations as well as the wide range of mation security management systems risk approach (See Improved ISO/IEC threats to an organization’s Information – Requirements 1) is a big event in the 17799 heralds a new series on informa- and Communications Technology (ICT) world of information security and one tion security management systems, IMS systems and business processes. that has been eagerly awaited. September-October 2005). It also refers to the latest Organ- This is a revised and updated isation for Economic Co-operation and version of the hugely successful Brit- “ Risk management Development (OECD) Security Princi- ish Standard BS 7799 Part 2, and inte- is at the core of ples which emphasize the need to engen- grates the process-based approach of ISO der a “ security culture ” within an orga- 9001:2000 and ISO 14001:2004. the ISO/IEC 27001 nization. This is especially important in It specifies the requirements and approach.” helping the organization fulfil its corpo- processes to enable a business to estab- rate social responsibilities, and for its lish, implement, review and monitor, ISO/IEC 27001:2005 provides overall well-being. manage and maintain effective informa- the means to implement effective infor- tion security. Like ISO 9001, it is built on mation security management in compli- the Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) process ance with organizational objectives and Business benefits cycle model (see Figure 1), and require- business requirements. The standard is Gaining customer confidence ment for continual improvement. a risk-based specification designed to is vital to business. An organization ISO/IEC 27001:2005 has been address the information security aspects can assure customers by demonstrating developed by diverse market set of sec- that its processes and systems are “ fit tors and their organizations with a com- Figure 1: Information Security Management enough ” to meet their needs in sharing mon interest – that of protecting their Systems (ISMS) Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle. information assets, the “ life-blood ” of all businesses. These organizations have developed the Information Security Implement Design Management System (ISMS) standard and operate and establish to enable them to achieve cost-effective the ISMS the ISMS information security solutions to protect their businesses. Do Plan A risk management tool Risk management is at the core of the ISO/IEC 27001 approach to achieving effective information security through continued use of risk methods, built into the PDCA process model, to monitor, Check Act maintain and improve such effectiveness. It provides a management frame- Monitor Update work to enable the best practice con- and review and improve trols from ISO/IEC 17799:2005, Infor- the ISMS the ISMS

48 ISO Focus February 2006 and exchanging information, providing a range of services and transacting business on-line. Outsourcing, off-shoring and providing managed services all rely on achieving and maintaining customer confidence in your business systems. Many organizations have reported the benefits of using these ISMS standards to give customers the assurance of services provided in a secure way. They have also reported benefits in meeting contractual obligations, and being able to demonstrate this to business partners, customers and other interested business parties. Some have also claimed that applying the standards has helped protect them from numerous business risks while safeguarding critical tangible and non-tangible business assets. Governments in many parts of the world are also applying ISMS stan-

dards to good effect as part of their e- © ISO government strategies and implementation roll-outs. of ISO/IEC 27001) as part of their busi- “ Many organizations have ness strategy. Many have also certified to Applicable to all BS 7799 Part 2 to provide an indepen- reported the benefits businesses dent confirmation of the effectiveness of using these ISMS of their information security. ISO/IEC 27001:2005 is applica- standards.” ble to small, medium and large organizations. It is practical and flexible enough to The ISO/IEC 27000 X.1051 ITU-T standard. It is envisaged integrate with existing management sys- family to become part of the ISO 27000 fam- tems and adaptable to any risk approach ily of standards in the future. ISO/IEC 27001:2005 is the first the organization might adopt. This view of a family of ISMS standards to be is well supported by organizations that Best seller released over the next five years. It is have used BS 7799 Part 2 (the forerunner planned to re-number ISO/IEC 17799 as ISO/IEC 27001:2005 will thus ISO/IEC 27002 in April 2007 to allow set the trend for a family of interna- About the author existing users time to acclimatize to the tional ISMS standards that are expect- new numbering scheme. ed to provide many benefits to business Ted Humphreys Under development is ISO/IEC worldwide by enhancing information serves as Con- 27003 which will provide additional security in today’s risk pervasive envi- venor of the Joint guidelines for implementation, and ISO/ ronment. The new standard is destined Technical Com- IEC 27004 which will address the impor- to follow the highly successful forerun- mittee, ISO/IEC tant topic of information security met- ner BS 7799 Part 2, and, like ISO/IEC JTC 1, Informa- rics and measurements. This will enable 17799, is predicted to become a best tion Technology, organizations to set performance targets seller across a broad spectrum of busi- subcommittee and carry out benchmarking activities to ness markets and sectors. SC 27, IT Security measure the effectiveness of their infor- techniques, working group WG 1, mation security. Requirements, services and guidelines. He is Future developments will include also Director of XiSEC, a company special- ISO/IEC 27005, ISMS Risk manage- 1) ISO/IEC 27001:2005, Information technology izing in information security management ment. Work is also underway on a set – Security techniques – Information security management systems – Requirements, is available systems. of telecoms requirements in conjunction from ISO national member institutes (these are Tel. + 44 1473 626615 with ITU-T. This will be additive to the listed with full contact details on ISO’s Web site E-mail [email protected] controls in ISO/IEC 27002 (ISO/IEC (www.iso.org) and from ISO Central Secretariat Web site www.xisec.com 17799) and is currently identified as the ([email protected]).

ISO Focus February 2006 49 Developments and Initiatives ISO prevents misuse of its name on Internet to the benefit of consumers

© ISO by Roger Frost, Press nizations refusing to comply and Communication with ISO’s policy on the use Manager, ISO Central of its name and logo. José Checa, Legal Secretariat Adviser at ISO Central Secre- tariat, commented : “ To date, SO has recently scored ISO has successfully filed sev- new successes in its fight eral cases with the WIPO Cen- I to prevent its name being ter, in addition to some court misused on the Internet to actions in several countries. mislead people into buy- These decisions have con- ing products or services that firmed that ISO is a famous they believe are endorsed mark protected in most coun- by ISO. tries and that any unauthor- The Arbitration and ized registration as an Inter- Mediation Center of WIPO net domain name of the mark (World Intellectual Property ISO – alone or in combina- Organization) ruled that the tion with other words – in the following Internet domain context of standardization and names, which had been regis- related activities should not be tered by companies with no connection permitted.” to ISO, be transferred to ISO : “ Some make use of ISO’s policy on the use of its • iso1stop.com, iso9000commerce. ISO’s name in a way that name and logo can be consulted on its com, isoeasy.com, isoeasy.org, could confuse potential Web site, along with guidelines on publi- isoeasy.info, isonet.net and cizing certification to its ISO 9001:2000 isotraining.net. customers." and ISO 14001:2004 standards.

WIPO upheld ISO’s contention organizations offering related products that the inclusion of “ iso ” in the domain and services such as certification of con- names gave the misleading impression formity, consultancy, training, publica-

that the Web sites were sponsored by tions and software. Krieger © ISO, P. ISO, or affiliated to it. The WIPO arbi- trators found that the domain names had Vigorous been registered with a view to commercial gain by the registrants since Inter- The majority operates in a busi- net users could be attracted to the sites ness-like manner without infringing mistakenly believing them to be con- ISO trademarks, but some make use of nected to ISO. ISO’s name in a way that could confuse ISO has published more than potential customers into believing that 15 000 International Standards including these organizations are part of ISO, or the ISO 9000 and ISO 14000 manage- that they, their products or services are José Checa, Legal Adviser at ISO ment system standards which at the end of endorsed by ISO. Central Secretariat : ‘ Any unauthorized 2004 were implemented by some 760 900 This has led ISO to take even registration as an Internet domain name of the mark ISO – alone or in combination organizations in 154 countries. more vigorous action in recent years to with other words – in the context The success of ISO’s standards protect Internet users from making such of standardization and related activities has been accompanied by the growth of abusive purchases and to pursue orga- should not be permitted.’

50 ISO Focus February 2006 New this month

IEC 20000 adoption,” explains François ISO/IEC 20000 Coallier, Chair of ISO/IEC Group that Can you trust approved the standard. “ These service benchmarks management processes deliver the best them ? provision of IT service possible service to meet a customer’s ISO standard for management business needs within agreed resource levels, i.e. service that is profession- sizing up personal al, cost effective and with risks that are financial planners by Elizabeth Gasiorowski-Denis, understood and fully managed.” Journalist, Editor of ISO Focus, ISO/IEC 20000:2005, which is by Antoinette Price, Journalist, ISO Central Secretariat issued in two parts under the general title, Information technology – Service man- Assistant Editor of ISO Focus, ith up to 80 % of information agement, will enable service providers ISO Central Secretariat technology budgets of most to understand how to enhance the qual- W organizations directly linked ity of service delivered to their custom- SO has published the first Interna- to service management processes, a new ers, both internal and external. tional Standard that will help peo- ISO/IEC standard that benchmarks this • Part 1: Specification provides require- I ple to decide whether or not they activity is expected to result in cost savings ments for IT service management and can be confident about the ethics and for users, whether large or small enter- is relevant to those responsible for ini- competence of professionals propos- prises, as well as increased productivity tiating, implementing or maintaining ing advice on planning their personal and improved customer service. IT service management in their orga- finances. ISO 22222:2005, Personal nization. financial planning, is aimed at increasing client confidence by providing an © ISO • Part 2 : Code of practice, represents internationally agreed benchmark for a an industry consensus on guidance high global standard of service. to auditors and assistance to service providers planning service improve-

ments or to be audited against ISO/ © ISO IEC 20000-1:2005. ISO/IEC 20000 integrates the process-based approach of ISO’s management system standards – ISO 9001:2000 Published by ISO and IEC, ISO/ and ISO 14001:2004 – including the Plan- IEC 20000 will enable organizations to Do-Check-Act (PDCA) cycle and require- benchmark their capability in delivering ment for continual improvement. managed services, measuring service lev- Organizations that so wish can els and assessing performance. have their IT service management systems Today, IT service providers are independently certified as conforming to under sustained pressure to deliver high the requirements of ISO/IEC 20000. Up until now, people seeking quality service at minimum cost. Con- The new standard is based on advice on how to plan their retirement or cerns have been raised that IT servic- the British Standard BS 15000 and is best invest their savings have been con- es, whether provided by an in-house integrated into ISO and IEC collection fronted with similar problems the world IT department or an external organiza- of software and systems engineering over. There is a vast choice of invest- tion, are not aligned with the needs of standards. ment schemes, legal frameworks vary the business and its customers. ISO/IEC ISO/IEC 20000-1:2005 and ISO/ from country to country, and investments 20000 will reduce operational exposure IEC 20000-2:2005 are available from ISO can go wrong. With so many financial to risk, meet contractual and tendering national member institutes (a complete planners to choose from, how can they requirements, demonstrate service qual- list is posted on ISO’s Web site (www. know who to trust and how should they ity and deliver best value. iso.org) and from ISO Central Secretar- compare the different schemes on offer ? The implementation of ISO/ iat ([email protected]). For example, according to the technical IEC 20000 will ensure proactive work- committee that developed the standard, ing practices able to deliver high levels For more information : ISO/TC 222, Personal financial plan- of customer service to meet their busi- Dr. Jenny Dugmore ning, the number of financial planners Project Editor of ISO/IEC 20000 ness needs. Tel. + 44 207 834 2000 in the United States alone ranges from “ Organizations will reap major Fax + 44 207 834 4304 800 000 to several million, depending business and financial benefits by ISO/ E-mail [email protected] on the definition of “ planner ”.

ISO Focus February 2006 51 New this month

“An International Standard for monize such symbols. ISO 7000: 2004 financial planning will provide simpli- was prepared by technical committee fication for the client by setting forth ISO/TC 145, Graphical symbols, sub- requirements to assure that the client is committee SC 3, Graphical symbols well served by financial planners who for use on equipment. have met the highest ethical and educa- The CD-ROM with the ISO tional standards”, said Stuart Kessler, 14617 standards consists of 15 parts, Chair of ISO/TC 222. each containing graphical symbols The standard defines six steps Double release for use in diagrams, together with of the personal financial planning pro- rules for the presentation and appli- cess: new DVD of ISO 7000 cation of these symbols and examples of their use. • establishing client/planner rela- graphical symbols for To make it easier to use, the tions ; equipment and CD-ROM is designed to enable easy • determining goals and gathering CD-ROM of ISO 14617 access to the graphical symbols found data ; graphical symbols for in ISO 14617 parts 2-15, in DWG, TIFF and EPS formats and includes • evaluating the client’s financial sta- diagrams numerical, alphabetical and keyword tus ; indexes. • developing and presenting the finan- It contains information on : cial plan ; SO is making available for the first time a DVD of ISO 7000, Graphi- • the creation and use of registration • implementing recommendations ; I cal symbols for use on equipment numbers for identifying graphical • monitoring the plan recommenda- and an updated CD-Rom of the pub- symbols used in diagrams ; tions. lished ISO 14617, Graphical symbols for diagrams suite of standards. • rules for the presentation and appli- At the heart of ISO 22222:2005, The DVD contains over 2 400 cation of these symbols (Part 1 of is a framework that applies to all aspects of ISO 7000:2004 graphical symbols, ISO 14617) with examples ; of the personal financial planner’s ethi- which can be placed on any equipment, • full text of each part of ISO 14617 cal behaviour, and requires compliance from automobiles, textile, home enter- in PDF format ; with applicable rules and regulations. tainment equipment to earth-moving It gives the requirements for competence machinery. • normative reference clauses and performance and competence assess- With additional DWG, TIFF bibliographies from each part of ment methods, and obliges the finan- and EPS formats, it does not need ISO 14617 ; cial planner to demonstrate continued to be installed onto a computer and competency by following the necessary contains easy-to-use search functions • terms and definitions from each training programmes and maintaining including the standard’s number, name, part of ISO 14617 in the glossary records of these. keyword, technical committee/ sub- section, which states the word, its The standard additionally speci- committee, publication and date of definition, an example of its use fies the requirements, content, and length release, as well as information about and the standard it appears in. of experience a personal financial plan- the meaning and use of each symbol ner must have and is applicable to all in both English and French. ISO 14617 was developed by personal financial planners regardless It is mainly intended for end- ISO/TC 10, Technical product docu- of their employment status. users who may need to include a sym- mentation, SC 10, Process plant doc- “ Experts from a variety of legal, bol as part of a product or for ISO umentation and tpd-symbols. economic and cultural backgrounds from standards developers, particularly any Both the CD-ROM and DVD more than 17 countries have authored technical committee requiring graphic are available from ISO national mem- a unique and pioneering goal-oriented symbols for a product standard. ber institutes (a complete list is post- standard,” said Holger Muehlbauer, Over the last decades, questions ed on ISO’s Web site (www.iso.org) Secretary of ISO/TC 222, established and complaints regarding symbols for and from ISO Central Secretariat : in 2001 to create an internationally use on diagrams have increased because ([email protected]). accepted benchmark for providers of different technical fields use symbols personal financial planning. which overlap each other, resulting in confusion. The DVD contains ISO graphical symbols from the common database launched in 2004 by IEC and ISO, which addressed the need to har-

52 ISO Focus February 2006 Coming up

This publicly available specification, one of several alternatives to fully-fledged International Standards offered by ISO for cases where swift development and publication take priority, will give organizations the requirements for establishing, implementing, maintaining and improving a management system for the security of the entire supply chain, since security hazards, such as smug- gling, piracy or terrorist attacks can hap- pen at any stage. Main Focus cal interoperability, as well as standards as databases and how standards are being The specification will therefore be appro- Knowledge and content management developed for graphic technology. priate for all organizations – small, medium and large – in the manufacturing, serv- Knowledge management embodies organ- This issue looks at how to keep records ice, storage and transportation sectors, and izational processes that seek a synergis- straight, data management and inter- its implementation will reassure business tic combination of data and information change, including the technical interop- partners and regulators that security is processing capacity of information tech- erability, and how companies deal with taken seriously within the organizations nologies, and the creative and innova- knowledge management as well as the they deal with. tive abilities of human beings, who sus- important issue of how to tackle securi- tain individual and business performance ty threats to intellectual capital. Partnerships in the development of through ongoing learning, unlearning, An interview with the CEO of Adobe, standards The article “ Partnerships in and adaptation. Bruce Chizen, looks at how Adobe has the development of standards, ” looks at a But technologies of computing have used innovative technology to bridge the pioneer project, initiated by ISO’s mem- inherent limitations and difficulty in gen- paper-to-digital world, by providing soft- bers for Denmark and Zimbabwe on the erating meaningful insights from data, ware solutions that enable its customers standardization of injection equipment. because they cannot question or re-inter- and employees to interact with information It emphasizes the need to increase the pret their programmed logic and assump- and each other and run businesses smooth- participation of developing countries in tions. Great performances can be gener- ly, and how ISO standards have helped the standardization process, so that they ated when the empowered smart minds of ensure the easy and secure exchange of can become serious players in the global motivated and committed humans work information across companies. market and standards can have true the technology. global relevance. The March edition of ISO Focus looks at Developments and how a multidisciplinary effort is under- Initiatives way to help specify fundamental techniques and technologies that advance Security management in global sup- the capabilities of computers, to regis- ply chains In this article, the increas- ter and manage semantics in association ingly important issue of security is with data. examined. Since at any given time bil- lions of dollars of goods move along It examines e-learning and the information global supply chains, the newly pub- technology used in education and training, lished ISO Publicly Available Specifi- the details of metadata, otherwise known cation, ISO/PAS 28000:2005 for supply ISO standards offer practical solutions to as the data about other data, which is com- chain security management systems, many of the problems of developing coun- monly divided into descriptive metadata will play a significant role in helping to tries, which together with countries making such as bibliographic information, struc- combat threats by ensuring the safe and the transition from a centralized to a mar- tural metadata about formats and struc- smooth flow of international trade. ket economy make up some three quarters tures, and administrative metadata, which of ISO’s membership. ISO is used to manage information. standards provide them with Other areas considered in the issue include technological know-how for the ISO standards for topic maps for the developing their economies representation and interchange of knowl- and raising their capacity to edge, with an emphasis on the findability export and compete in glo- of information, information and techni- bal markets.

ISO Focus February 2006 Fight ﬁ res

before they break out.

ISO/IEC 27001:2005. The systematic approach to managing information security. People. Processes. Information Technology.