TIA's Smart Device Communications Standards Developing Engineering Committee Defines Scope, Elects Leaders

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Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA)

Feb 16, 2010, 11:30 ET

Numerex CTO Jeff Smith Elected Chair; ILS Technology Product Manager Jim Wert Elected Vice-Chair

ARLINGTON, Va., Feb. 16 /PRNewswire/ -- The Telecommunications Industry Association's newly launched Smart Device Communications (SDC) Engineering Committee (TR-50) met recently, electing Dr. Jeff Smith, Chief Technology Officer at Numerex Corp (Nasdaq: NMRX) as Committee Chairman, and Jim Wert, Product Manager of deviceWISE Products at ILS Technology, as Vice-Chairman.

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TR-50 was established in December to develop standards to enable, monitor and ensure interoperable interfaces to the network. At the February 4th meeting, representatives from more than 40 companies, the U.S. government and trade associations engaged in lively discussions about the scope, requirements, definitions and architecture of smart devices.

"Having worked in standards development, I could not be more pleased with the speed and cooperative effort I see in TR-50. It's evident by the level of participation and urgency that there's a real need for the industry to come together on these important standards, which are critical for machine-to-machine (M2M) communications. It's satisfying to know that TIA can effectively facilitate the process," said Wert.

"As one of our objectives, we will promote throughout the work of the Smart Device Communications Committee TIA's core values: connectivity, innovation, leadership and responsibility," said Smith.

During the meeting, committee members also approved their scope:

Engineering Committee TR-50 Smart Device Communications is responsible for the development and maintenance of access agnostic interface standards for the monitoring and bi-directional communication of events and information between smart devices and other devices, applications or networks.

The approved scope also notes that "TR-50 will develop a Smart Device Communications framework that can operate over different underlying transport networks (wireless, wired, etc.) and can be adapted to a given transport network by means of an adaptation/convergence layer. The TR-50 framework will make its functionality available to applications through a well-defined Application Programming Interface (API) that is agnostic to the vertical application domain (eHealth, Smart Grid, Industrial Automation, etc.)."

TR-50 highlighted the importance of working with other TIA Engineering Committees and non-TIA standards forums (international or national standards) to ensure end-to-end functionality and interoperability and avoid overlap or duplication of work and to foster collaboration and coordination among organizations addressing various components of Smart Device Communication Systems.

Participants at the meeting included representatives from: Alcatel-Lucent; CEA; Cisco Systems, Inc.; Ericsson, Inc.; FAL Associates; FLO Forum; Home & Utility Systems; ILS Technology; Intel; Intercon Systems; IRG Energy; J. Upton Consulting; Lantiq; LG InfoComm U.S.A., Inc.; Microsoft Corporation; Mitsubishi Electric; Motorola, Inc.; NIST; Nokia; Numerex; OPC Foundation; Qualcomm; Samsung; Sigma Delta Communications, Inc.; SkyTerra Communications; Speecys, Ltd.; Sprint; Thales Communications, Inc.; Tyco Electronics; Underwriters Laboratory, Inc.; Verizon Wireless; VIA Telecom; VoCAL; WirefreeCom, Inc.; WK3C Wireless LLC.

TR-50 will meet next on March 10-11 in Denver, Co.

To learn more about how to participate in TR-50, please contact TIA Vice President for Technology and Business Development Cheryl Blum at [email protected] or Director for Technology and Business Development Stephanie Montgomery at [email protected].

About TIA

The Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) represents the global information and communications technology (ICT) industry through standards development, advocacy, tradeshows, business opportunities, market intelligence and world-wide environmental regulatory analysis. Since 1924, TIA has been enhancing the business environment for broadband, mobile wireless, information technology, networks, cable, satellite and unified communications. Members' products and services empower communications in every industry and market, including healthcare, education, security, public safety, transportation, government, the military, the environment and entertainment. Learn more about TIA at tiaonline.org.

TIA is accredited by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI).

SOURCE Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA)