IBM's New "I.T.Standards Policy" - and a Call for Wider Reform

The development and adoption of the new IBM policy clearly follows as a direct result of the very public battle over the adoption of Microsoft's OOXML document format specification. That process saw widespread allegations of abuse in national standards bodies around the world, as well as calls for reform of the ISO/IEC rules under which the process was conducted.

The IBM policy details a set of principles that are intended to regulate its participation in standards development, as well as a list of action items that will direct its efforts in seeking the reform of that process. IBM's goals in that pursuit will be to seek greater transparency, openness and inclusiveness, and also to facilitate the integration of open standards with other important technology developments, such as the implementation of open source software.

The development of the IBM policy was informed by a private, on-line discussion conducted over a six-week period involving the active participation of 70 government, academic, industry, policy and standards body thought leaders from around the world (disclosure: I was one of five moderators facilitating that process).  The often dramatic recommendations that emerged from these discussions are now also public, and will provide the basis for an active and ongoing debate over how standards can be better developed in the future. The next step in that process is an invitation-only meeting that will be held under the auspices of Yale University in late November.

The recommendations now public range from the traditional to the radical, including a call for greater government regulation of standards activities and the formation of new global organizations to avoid patent ambushes and to raise the bar in standards development. Clearly, these are ambitious and controversial recommendations.  But they have also been carefully considered by experts in the field, and tailored to the real needs of the marketplace. 

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