The making of global standards in the GIS of the 21st century

摘要

The global information society has undergone dramatic development in the 90s. The rapid growth in mobile telecommu- nications and internet business is living proof of a radical change in today's information society and infrastructure. The next emerging phases in this develpment chain are the continued increase in total mobility with wideband data services. For fixed networks, capacity increase is essential; the new broadband ATM network will be needed to meet bandwidth-hungry end-user applications. In this rapidly changing development phase, traditional standardization organizations and bodies are facing new challenges and increasing demands from both society and industry. Initiatives for new systems and solutions are today specified and agreed upon in market driven cooperation bodies such as the IETh (Internet Engineering Task Force), ATM Forum, DVB, etc. The role of standardization organisations has developed primarily into the provision of documentation, maintenance and version updates. A large number of ad hoc forums present a risk however. It may be Problematic for these different bodies to understand the whole picture of interfaces to other existing standards. Another equally important issue for them is the overall understanding of end-user needs. Business opportunities and market development on the other hand, are demanding fast and practical solutions with equal access to all market players. The main challenge in the future development of next generation mobile standard lies in the question: are we able to create and agree upon a global standard? The Global System for Mobile Communication, GSM, is a good example of an excellent cooperation in standardization work. Many strengths--open interfaces, true international roaming with a well-developed terminal market--have made GSM the most successful communications system in the world. This will enable a natural migration path towards next generation mobile technology. To fulfil the subscriber needs, GSM today offers the widest range and variety of services. Currently, (June 97) more than 44 million people use GSM phones with services offered by more than 230 operators in well over 100 countries in all continents, increasing by 2 million users each month at present. By the year 2000, there will be more than 200 million GSM subscribers. New business opportunities and markets will open when customer-driven applications in the networks are growing. Enhancement of new services such as electronic payment systems and personalized multimedia are crucial in building the next generation global information society.