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In a move, that will attract industries and academia to lend voice to the country's concerns involving matters of standardization, Global ICT Standardization Forum for India (GISFI), constituted under the guidance of Denmark based Center for TeleInFrastruktur (CTIF), held the first workshop for the industry in the national capital recently. GISFI has been set up as a public private partnership (PPP) entity with an objective to promote Indian initiatives to develop into global standards.

The country's first of its kind body that was launched in the month of May this year, aims at harmonizing and unifying the ICT standardization processes in India. Professionals from industry, academia, manufacturers, service providers, standardization bodies, and representatives of the government attended the workshop, organized by GISFI with support from Cellular Operators' Association in India. Representatives from ETSI and Association of Radio Industries and Businesses (ARIB), presented a glimpse of standardization scenario in Europe and Japan, respectively.

The forum has been set up with an idea to increase competitiveness within companies and create more conducive investor friendly environment in the country. The idea of setting up such a forum has been derived from developed countries which have similar standard development organizations. India until now followed standards created by other countries for some R&D activities. GISFI creates a platform to facilitate discussions between the body and international forums like ITU, IEEE, and ETSI.

CTIF's director Prof Ramjee Prasad, who conceived the idea of setting up such a forum in India said, “GISFI will lead towards the growth of India scientifically, financially, and industrially and this is the first step to bring India on the global map.”

Sachin Pilot, minister of state for communications and IT, who inaugurated the workshop and also launched the GISFI website said, “Government supports GISFI's initiatives and I am confident that this initiative would bring India to newer heights setting high standards globally.” He said, for some years in the past, India was placed at the lower end of the IT value change, it took immense efforts for the country to keep pace with the rest of the world.

“India has its specific issues, and a body like GISFI was much needed to work at standards that are custom tailored reflective of the needs of the Indian sub-continent. It is important that the standards are consensus-driven,” the minister said.

COAI member TR Dua addresses the participants	Sachin Pilot, Minister of State for Communication and IT inaugurates the introductory GISFI workshop for the industry

GISFI also signed a letter of intent with the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) and plans knowledge sharing with the Indian standardization body. Adrian Scarse, VP, international partnership projects, ETSI, said “Both the group have mutually agreed to share knowledge on standards, technologies and event in respective countries, this will be a symbiotic relationship and will help both the sides to connect better.”

Speaking at the inaugural function of the workshop, Prasad said India will have to strengthen its technological industries in order to meet the wireless, and environmental challenges. The body will look at the issues of mobility, fast deployment of technology, and cost-efficiencies.

Setting up a forum like GISFI comes from the fact that developed countries have similar standard development organizations, but India until now followed standards created by other countries for some R&D activities. Normally ITU standards come in handy but the same are not available for all the technological solutions developed, especially the newly launched innovations.

GISFI will provide a platform for discussion related to standardization, and upon reaching consensus among all the bodies, GISFI will appropriately frame the draft standards under 'GISFI Standard' before forwarding it to appropriate national body for acceptance.

The forum has already started some work on issues relating to green energy, challenges of convergence, Internet and future of radio access. The Indian standardization body claims trials on new technological innovations are expected to fasten up post launch of the forum.

The body will be governed by a Board, and seeks partnership with the government. GISFI announced that K Sridhara, ex-member, technology, Telecom Commission has been selected director general of the body. At present, GISFI has four members, including VNL and Niksun. GISFI hopes that more players will also join to give India a voice on international platforms for deliberating standardization.

Prasad says GISFI's efforts within the Indian market and work in close cooperation with all standardization bodies will be a catalyst for India's growth as a knowledge based economy. All the developed countries, or a group of countries, have their own standard development organizations which formulate standards for their countries on the basis of applied research and development. These standards, sometimes, are country-specific, thereby creating lots of interconnectivity and interoperability problems. No such concerted efforts exist presently in India, and as a result we simply follow the standards created by other countries, and invariably the aforesaid problems crop-up.

Calling for support from the industry, Prasad said, GISFI fills that void by acting as a 'single' standardization body. This will alleviate the challenges of a highly fragmented marketplace, and foster healthy competition, creating an environment that is conducive to both domestic and international investment.

“The International standards come in handy but the same are not available for all the technological solutions developed, especially the newly launched innovations. With GISFI, available as a rich platform to deliberate on India specific requirements, both domestic and international investment will see a boost.”

Heena Jhingan
heenaj@cybermedia.co.in

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