Industry Developments Lead to Scope & Title Changes of TIA Engineering Committees

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

TIA CONTACT: EILEEN BRAMLET, TIA, +1.703.907.7749, ebramlet@tiaonline.org
PR CONTACT: ASHLEY ROOK, RATIONAL 360, +1. 202.429.4929, ashleyrook@rational360.com

Arlington, VA (May 24, 2012) - During its April meeting, the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) Technical Committee approved two significant changes to the titles and identified scope of its engineering committees.  The changes to the TR-50 and TR-14 committees reflect industry developments that have evolved the work they are doing.  As the ICT industry continues to rapidly change, TIA believes it is important that the organization’s critical standards-setting activity is accurately reflected in the names and scopes of its engineering committees.

The TR-14 Committee changed its title to Structural Standards for Communication and Small Wind Turbine Support Structures (formerly Point to Point Communications Systems).  More specifically, the new scope of TR-14 is to:

Maintain and provide interpretation of ANSI/TIA-222, “Structural Steel Standards for Steel Antenna Towers and Supporting Structures” and TIA-1019-A, “Structural Standards for Installation, Alteration and Maintenance of Communication Towers, Antennas, and Antenna Supporting Structures. The committee is also working to develop a design supplement to ANSI/TIA-222 for small wind turbine structures in response to industry demand in this area.”

These changes reflect the recent standards development work the committee has been doing in the area of design and analysis of structures supporting Small Wind Turbines.  Wind turbines are increasingly being used to power communications towers – an important development as the ICT industry seeks to increase energy efficiency. 

Brian Reese, Chair TR-14, said, “The program of work in the TR-14 committee has changed as the uses for antenna towers have also modified over time.  The change in title and scope for the committee formalizes what industry has been doing in TR-14.”

The TR-50 Committee changed its title to M2M-Smart Device Communications (formerly Smart Device Communications).  Since the creation of the Committee, the term machine-to-machine and its acronym M2M have entered the vernacular and more closely describe the work of the Committee. 

Peter Nurse, chair of TR-50, stated, “Over the past year, the industry has seen some significant changes in the area of machine-to-machine communications.  The title change is a step toward clearly identifying the work of the committee and raising its visibility around this increasingly high profile industry topic.”

These title and scope changes not only more accurately reflect the work the committees are doing, but they will help draw greater visibility to the committees’ work and allow them to more easily be found by interested parties via search engines.

About TIA

The Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) represents manufacturers and suppliers of global communications networks through standards development, policy and advocacy, business opportunities, market intelligence, and events and networking. TIA enhances the business environment for broadband, mobile wireless, information technology, networks, cable, satellite and unified communications. Members' products and services empower communications in every industry and market, including healthcare, education, security, public safety, transportation, government, the military, the environment, and entertainment. Visit tiaonline.org for more details.

###