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Consolidation of Forums. J. MacFie Tel. +1 613-765-6641 Fax +1 613-763-2697 Email jmacfie@nortelnetworks.com. Forums and Consortia - General Description. Anyone can start one Membership open to all who pay fees Provide a legal (no antitrust) context for deal-making
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Consolidation of Forums J. MacFie Tel. +1 613-765-6641 Fax +1 613-763-2697 Email jmacfie@nortelnetworks.com
Forums and Consortia - General Description • Anyone can start one • Membership open to all who pay fees • Provide a legal (no antitrust) context for deal-making • Develop and endorse specifications typically by vote (not consensus) • Contributions often required to be based on implementation • Often a complementary Marketing/Publicity committee to promote the body and its technology Forums and Consortia have come from nowhere to be a significant part of the global standards community GSC-8, OTTAWA
Forums and Consortia - Proliferation • The number of Forums grew rapidly in the 1990s • Often overlapping work programs • Expensive to join many bodies and attend many meetings • Multiple venues allow ‘forum shopping’ and give rise to divergent standards GSC-8, OTTAWA
Is the Proliferation Trend Reversing? • Financial constraints in the telecoms sector have led to reduced travel and smaller memberships budgets • There is some evidence that the proliferation of forums is reversing: • The Open Mobile Alliance was formed in June 2002 from six forums. Two others have since joined. • The Frame Relay Forum and the Multi Protocol Label Switching forum have announced their intention to merge • The Full Service VDSL Forum has moved its work into an ITU-T SG 16 Focus Group, and its output is already moving through the Accelerated Approval Process GSC-8, OTTAWA
Proposal • Consolidation among forums is good for the standards industry • The PSOs of GSC should work as catalysts to promote consolidations among forums wherever possible • GSC should endorse the initiative of the ITU-T to bring forums into the ITU-T as focus Groups GSC-8, OTTAWA