The impact of competing committee standards: Integrating the interoperability perspective

The impact of competing committee standards: Integrating the interoperability perspective

Egyedi, T.M.

Technology, Policy and Management

Infrastructures, Systems and Services

2012-12-31

There is an on-going controversy about the impact of competing committee standards – i.e., two or more functionally equivalent ‘open’ standards – on innovation (Blind, 2008; Egyedi and Koppenhol, 2010; West and Fomin, 2011). This paper takes a different angle and focuses on its impact on interoperability (e.g. e-government) and large IT users such as public authorities, in particular. Moreover, it extends the notion of ‘competing standards’ to include standards change (i.e., different standards versions) as a source of competition next to standards wars. The conceptual framework on economic functions of committee standards (i.e. information, compatibility, variety reduction; Blind, 2004) is used to analyse relevant literature and reason about the impact of single and multiple competing standards. An economic equation is formulated to capture the cumulative and dynamic effects of competing standards on interoperability. The literature and theoretical findings indicate that it would be difficult and costly for public authorities to sustain commitment for supporting two or more functionally equivalent standards and maintain long-term interoperability. In the light of the scientific controversy, the paper concludes that tension between innovation and interoperability

rival standards
interoperability
public IT procurement
e-government
standards wars
standards versions
converters

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:fc346094-9f70-4e2a-afc1-f15006ffe6b4

Wissenschafts Verlag Mainz

Proceedings of the 17th EURAS Annual Standardisation Conference, 18 juni 2012, Kosice, Slavia

Institutional Repository

conference paper

(c) 2012 Egyedi, T.M.