FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 14, 2010
A Standards Evolution for the M2M Revolution
As we prepare to embrace the brave new world made possible by the M2M revolution, what springs to mind first?
Smart communications devices and applications? Yes and yes, of course.
So what critical element are we missing here? Oh yes, standards.
As M2M Magazine Editorial Director/Publisher Peggy Smedley noted in a recent editorial "M2M Needs Some Standards:" "Rather than asking why we need standards, we might ask ourselves what the world would be like without standards." She goes on to paint a grim picture of life without technical standards.
As is often the case, the devil is in the details, but the work that standards developing organizations such as TIA takes on is of utmost importance to realize the goal of seamless, interoperable, and secure smart device communications that equally benefit manufacturers, network managers and consumers.
"We've identified developing smart device communications standards as a top priority," said TIA President Grant Seiffert. "The need is clear and so is TIA's responsibility to meet it on behalf of our member companies and the ICT industry – as well as every other industry connected through global communications networks. This technology will benefit society for generations to come."
To that end, TIA launched a new engineering committee in December 2009, dedicated to Smart Device Communications (TIA's TR-50) to be responsible for the development and maintenance of access agnostic interface standards for the monitoring and bi-directional communication of events and information between smart devices and other devices, applications or networks.
TR-50 held a meeting in conjunction with Connected World Conference at McCormick Place in Chicago, June 15-18, which was open to CWC attendees. At the conference, TR-50 Committee Chair, Dr. Jeff Smith, Chief Technology Officer at Numerex Corp., delivered a keynote presentation – "The Coming of Age of M2M Standards." (Download the slides - PDF 1.5 MB)
"The TR-50 framework will make its functionality available to applications through a well-defined Application Programming Interface (API) that is agnostic to the vertical application domain," said Dr. Smith. "We want to create standards that are not tied to one specific market segment, but can be used across the board. However, in order to develop overarching standards, we will be listening to and working with a wide range of market participants who are encouraged to join us."
Another area of major concern is security of smart device communications. In recognizing this particular challenge and to help develop other specific areas of global leadership and expertise in this field, TR-50 is fostering a close collaboration with academia and other related research centers. Preliminary discussions with the University of Texas at Arlington have already taken place, and researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology shared their perspective on possible smart device communications standards security gaps during TR-50's April meeting in Atlanta.
Georgia Tech, through its Information Security Center, its Center for Experimental Research in Computer Systems, and the Smart Antenna Research Laboratory, is a leader in research in these areas.
While TR-50 is a new committee dedicated specifically to M2M standards development, TIA is no stranger to M2M standards, with several of its engineering committees having worked on smart device communications, including TR-45 (Mobile and Personal Communications Systems Standards), TR-48 (Vehicular Telematics), TR-49 (Healthcare ICT) and through its work on the Third Generation Partnership Project 2 (3GPP2).
"TIA is uniquely positioned to leverage the experience of the telecommunications industry in bridging the needs of other industries, including utilities in Smart Grid communications, healthcare, public safety and smart transportation," said Cheryl Blum, TIA Vice President for Standards and Business Development.
Blum also recognizes the importance of working cooperatively with other TIA Engineering Committees and non-TIA standards forums, both national and international. "I want to emphasize that TR-50 is working to ensure end-to-end functionality and interoperability and to avoid overlap or duplication of work," she said. "We aim to foster collaboration and coordination among organizations addressing various components of smart device communication systems."
More on TR-50
For recent news on TIA's TR-50 Smart Device Communications engineering committee, listen on demand to a feature length interview with Cheryl Blum on the Peggy Smedley Show. (Read the transcript.)
To learn more about how to participate in TR-50, please contact Cheryl Blum at cblum@tiaonline.org.
TIA is accredited by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). Visit tiaonline.org.
This article appeared in event publication for Connected World Conference in Chicago in June.
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