Are standards outdated?

Like the modern-day axiom that you can't be too rich or too thin, it appears that you can't get enough IPTV either. While it's certainly understandable that every access/aggregation/customer premises equipment vendor wants to position its gear as perfect for the IPTV world, it now seems that standards bodies (both real ones and advisory ones) are getting into the act as well.

The latest move is the Internet Protocol Detail Record Organization urging the industry to get together on accounting and settlement issues for IPTV. (Fair enough, but isn't that close to the same thing that ATIS is doing? And what about all the internal efforts from carriers? Do they count for anything?

The need for standards development was clear and well defined in an environment where consumers had only one choice of provider. But what about in a world where competition makes time to market a major issue? Telcos and their suppliers certainly like to vet technology through committees, groups and consortia, but in a market where technology is developing so fast, the industry needs to ask itself whether the methodology has outlived its usefulness.

E-mail me at VVittore@prismb2b.com.