The Future Generation: Technical, Social, and Legislative Implications for Standardization

Sherrie Bolin, President & CEO The Bolin Group

8/22/2008
(Original Publish Date: 12/4/2004)

In December 2004 leaders in the information and communications technology industry (ICT), government, user organizations, and academia gathered to discuss the Future Generation at a conference hosted by ETSI, Sun Microsystems, BT, CEN/ISSS, ESRI, Siemens, and Nortel Networks. In addition to the conference, a book entitled The Standards Edge: Future Generation will be published. This book contains a compilation of articles from experts around the world that address the requirement, challenges and strategies for the Future Generation. Both the conference and the book define the Future Generation as the “Internet of things regardless of device, platform, or whether the information is delivered via wired or wireless means.” Encompassing everything from RFID and sensor networks to smart homes, location based services, and medical monitoring, the technologies are widely varied but their goal is always the same: to enhance the lives of people. The Future Generation promises to bring advanced functionality and conveniences to our lives — but also threatens to enmesh us in a sea of technical difficulties and endless hours wasted on customer support lines if it is not planned for and managed correctly. The goals of the conference were to discuss the requirements and challenges of the Future Generation and begin to lay the groundwork for not only the technological developments, but also for the cooperation critical to successfully bringing the Future Generation to fruition.  *Link to article no longer available online.