The International Multimedia Teleconferencing Consortium Boosts Ip Telephony Interoperability Initiatives

SAN RAMON, Calif. (November 24, 1999) The International Multimedia Teleconferencing Consortium, Inc. (IMTC) today announced that the organization will further IP Telephony interoperability initiatives through the establishment of the IMTC aHIT! (Applications on Harmonized Interoperable IP Telephony) Activity Group. The IMTC aHIT! Activity Group identifies and documents interoperability requirements for service providers and vendors of voice over IP (VoIP) and multimedia applications. The VoIP industry will benefit from this group by eliminating standards incompatibility for service providers when dealing with multiple vendors, while vendors gain commercially viable interoperability with other vendors.

ITU adopts new releases of SDL and MSC Specification and Description Languages

GENEVA, Switzerland (November 19, 1999) The release 2000 of the widely used specification and design languages SDL (Specification and Description Language) and MSC (Message Sequence Charts) have been approved today by Study Group 10 of the ITU Telecommunications Standardization Sector (ITU-T SG10). SDL and MSC are description languages for communicating systems. Commercial tools have supported SDL and MSC as a proven technology and provided the means for validation, verification, and automatic generation of executable applications and test cases. SDL and MSC tools now have 32% of the real-time software development tool market. New tool releases will support the new standards in the second quarter of 2000.

New standards' forum brings together UN, NGO's and private sector

GENEVA, Switzerland (November 15, 1999) Today marked the launching of the Standards Actions in the Global Market (SGM) Forum, a new grouping which brings together international organizations, representing both the private and governmental sectors, with a stake in standardization, either as developers or users.

The Forum comprises 11 international organizations both from within and without the United Nations system. The ISO President, Prof. Giacomo Elias commented: "I am convinced that the SGM Forum is destined to play a very special role as a facilitator of a greater partnership of public and private sectors

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The National Institute of Standards and Technology operates a wide range of research facilities? The laboratories described below illustrate two such NISTs activities.

LASER RADIOMETRY

NIST researchers develop measurement methods and standards for characterizing laser sources and detectors used primarily with continuous-wave radiation. They also develop and maintain measurement services for laser power and energy, optical fiber power, and related parameters. Accurate characterization of optoelectronic sources and detectors is crucial to the effective development and use of industrial technologies such as lightwave telecommunications, laser-based medical instrumentation, materials processing, photolithography, data storage, and laser safety equipment. The laser radiometry project focuses on selected critical parameters intrinsic to optoelectronic sources and detectors, especially the calibration of optical fiber power meters and laser power/energy meters at commonly used wavelengths and power levels. Absolute optical measurements are traceable through high-accuracy cryogenic electrical substitution radiometers to national electrical standards for power and energy. In addition, special test measurements are available for linearity, spectral responsivity, and spatial uniformity of optical power meters and detectors. In support of source characterization, measurement methods are developed to characterize beam intensity profiles and propagation of laser beams. Project members participate in national and international standards committees developing standards for laser safety, laser radiation measurements (such as beam profile and pointing stability), and optical-power-related measurements. They extend and improve source and detector characterizations through the development of improved technology such as low-noise, spectrally flat, highly uniform pyroelectric detectors, solid-state light trapping detectors, deep ultra-violet optical calorimeters, and new tunable-wavelength laser systems.

Contact: Christopher L. Cromer

High-Speed Optoelectronic Measurements

NIST provides advanced metrology and standards relating to temporal properties of optical sources and detectors used with optoelectronic systems. Researchers also develop and maintain measurement services for optoelectronic frequency response, impulse response, relative intensity noise, noise figure, and low-level pulsed energy.

High-bandwidth measurements are needed to support high-performance systems that take advantage of the potential bandwidth of optical fiber. Systems presently being installed operate at 5 gigabits per second to 10 gigabits per second using pure optical time division multiplexing (OTDM); research is being conducted on the next generation of OTDM systems at 20 gigabits per second to 40 gigabits per second. Increasingly tight tolerances in both digital and analog systems require frequency response measurements with low uncertainty.

Project members use both frequency-domain and time-domain techniques to characterize the modulation response of optoelectronic components with the low uncertainty, large frequency range (over 5 decades), and fine frequency resolution required by international standards for present and future optoelectronic systems. Source and detector noise measurements are required to predict low-bit error ratios in computer interconnects, high carrier-to-noise ratios in analog systems, and to support erbium-doped fiber amplifier noise-figure measurements using electrical noise measurement methods. Intensive use of laser target designators by the armed forces requires traceable, low-level pulse power and energy calibration standards at 1.06 micrometers and 1.55 micrometers.

Contact: Paul D. Hale

Many of the standards listed below are available for purchase online, and links are included.

Check here for news on proposed standards from IEEE, IEC etc. and ad hoc industry groups. If you have a standard you'd like us to watch, email Len Coleman (lcoleman@chipcenter.com).

06-JUN-99, IEEE Std 2000.1-1999
The IEEE-SA Standards Board approved two IEEE Computer Society Y2K standards. IEEE Std 2000.1-1999 defines Y2K terms and concepts; IEEE Std 2000.2-1999 addresses Y2K testing for components and systems.

IEEE standards are normally available only on a fee basis. However, as a public service, the IEEE Standards Association will provide access to these two standards at no charge on the Web at http://grouper.ieee.org/groups/2000/index.html. Printed copies of the standards may be purchased from the IEEE by calling +1 800-678-4333.

IEEE Std 2000.1-1999 ý IEEE Standard for Information Technology - Year 2000 Terminology IEEE Std 2000.1-1999 defines the terms and concepts necessary for addressing Y2K issues for information technology. The standard revises a previous standard, approved in 1998, and includes changes in requirements for claims of conformance. The new standard specifies that components and systems perform correct date processing for a minimum of 10 years, including 1999 and 2000. IEEE Std 2000.1-1999

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Check the calendars below to put important standards events on your calendar. If there are events you think we should note, please pass them along to Len Coleman lcoleman@chipcenter.com.

Wireless Application Protocol Forum

National Institute of Standards and Technology

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