Internet of Things A to Z

7On Standardizing the Internet of Things and Its Applications

Kai Jakobs

Computer Science Department, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany

7.1 Introduction

“Standards are not only a technical question. They determine the technology that will implement the Information Society, and consequently the way in which industry, users, consumers, and administrations will benefit from it.” (EC, 1996). This quote conveys two important insights that are overlooked all too often. The first one is that Information and Communication Technology (ICT) systems simply would not work without underlying standards. The second one is that today's ICT standards are tomorrow's technology. That is, those who lead the standardization initiatives today are likely to be in the driving seat when it comes to the actual technology development and implementation.

Scores of standards are implemented in every ICT system, from the most complex international infrastructure down to the humble PC on the desk back home. There are standards for operating systems, programming languages, user interfaces, communication protocols, disk drives, cables and connectors, and so on. Biddle et al. (2010) found that at the very least 251 interoperability standards are implemented in a laptop computer; they reckon that the total number of standards relevant to such a device is much higher.

These days the economic importance of standards is no longer questioned. Swann (2010) provides a very thorough review of the relevant literature. ...