The Essential Guide is a concise handbook for anyone who wants to understand standards and standards development from a hands-on perspective: how to decide what Standard Setting Organization (SSO) to join, how to get the most out of one after you do, and how to create an SSO if the right one doesn’t already exist.
Participating in an SSO
What (and why) is an SSO?
There are over 500 technology SSOs in the world today, and more are being formed every week. They must be doing something right. More +
Value propositions, roles and strategies
With hundreds of SSOs to choose from, deciding which are central to your mission, and also most likely to succeed in achieving theirs, is essential to meeting your strategic objectives. More +
Getting the most from your membership
With hundreds of SSOs to choose from, deciding which are central to your mission, and also most likely to succeed in achieving theirs, is essential to meeting your strategic objectives. More +
Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) and Standard Setting
IPR policies vary widely and are evolving rapidly, while governments watch closely. It’s essential to understand your obligations under an IPR policy before you become bound by it. More +
Forming and managing a SSO
Business Considerations
Nobody has to join an SSO, or support its standards. As a result, there is as much art as science to forming an SSO that key stakeholders will want to join and support. More +
Legal Considerations
While governments everywhere support standards development, SSOs and their members must understand and comply with antitrust, tax, intellectual property and other laws around the world. More +
Certification testing and Branding
Standards need to be credible in order to become widely implemented. Achieving trust relies on proving interoperability through testing, and advertising that value through branding. More +
Creating a Successful SSO Technical Process
At the core of every SSO is its technical process. Whether an SSO creates useful standards in a useful time frame is a result of how well that process is designed and run. More +
Law and Policy
Government Concerns and Policies
Governments the world over are taking a greater interest in SSOs, as consumers, as regulators, and as protectors and advocates for domestic industry. More +
Laws, Cases and Regulations
SSOs are both encouraged and regulated under the antitrust and anticompetition laws of nations around the world. They can also be the source of expensive private litigation. More +