TABLE OF CONTENTS By its very nature, telecommunications depends on successful interaction between distant systems and for this to be successful some degree of commonality is required in specification of the equipment interfaces and protocols used. There are several organisations addressing the areas of standards for telecommunications networks. These are organised on a global, regional or national basis. In addition, there are a range of other organisations, often consortium or forums of interested parties in the industry that set ad hoc standards, many of which become adopted later by the more formal regional and global organisations. The key organisations referred to throughout this book are summarised below.
This is a specialist agency of the United Nations, comprising some 200 member countries, responsible for telecommunications standardisation. The organisation is split into two main areas of interest:
ITU-T covering telecommunications (ITU-T was previously known by the title of CCITT Comit Consultatif International de T l graphique et T l phonique);
ITU-R covering radio (ITU-R was previously known by the title of CCIR Comit Consultatif International des Radiocommunications).
ISO is a joint organisation with the International Electrical Commission (IEC) responsible for standardisation of information technology (IT). The ISO 7-layer model is probably the most famous output from this organisation.
ETSI is the main standards organisation covering the European Union countries. It follows on from the work of the predecessor organisation...
