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

Arlington, VA, February 13, 2010 --(PR.com)-- The Telecommunications Industry Association's newly launched Smart Device Communications (SDC) Engineering Committee (TR-50) met here last week, 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.

TR-50 was established in December to develop standards to enable, monitor and ensure interoperable interfaces to the network. At last week’s meeting, representatives from more than 40 companies engaged in lively discussions about the scope, requirements, definitions and architecture of smart devices. U.S. government and trade association representatives also participated.

“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 facilitate the process and effectively move the ball forward,” 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.

At last week’s meeting, members of the recently formed committee also approved the following 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. These standards development efforts pertain to but are not limited to the functional areas as noted:

· Requirements
· System Architecture
· Cross-Industry Communication
· Leverage Existing (and Future) Physical Infrastructure
· Information Models (State Diagrams)
· Security (e.g., Data Content, Mutual Authentication)
· End to End Performance and Scalability of Equipment and Networks
· Network Management/Operations
· Device Management (including Discovery and Identity)
· Protocols
· Minimum Performance, Conformance and Interoperability Testing

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 to avoid overlap or duplication of work and to foster collaboration and coordination among organizations addressing various components of Smart Device Communication Systems.

Participants at last week’s 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’s next meeting is scheduled for 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 cblum@tiaonline.org or Director for Technology and Business Development, Stephanie Montgomery at smontgomery@tiaonline.org.

Sign up for RSS feeds on TIA News.

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.

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

TIA’s Board of Directors includes senior-level executives from ACS, ADC, ADTRAN, Alcatel-Lucent, ANDA Networks, AttivaCorp, Avaya, Bechtel Communications Inc., Cisco Systems, Corning Incorporated, Ericsson Inc., GENBAND Inc., Graybar, Henkels & McCoy, ILS Technology, Intel Corporation, Intersect Inc., LGE, Microsoft, Motorola, Nokia Siemens Networks, Nortel, Openwave Inc., Panasonic Computer Solutions Co., Powerwave Technologies, Qualcomm, Research In Motion, Sumitomo Electric Lightwave Corporation, Tellabs, Tyco Electronics, Ulticom Inc., and Verari Systems. Advisors to the Board include FAL Associates, Orca Systems and Telcordia Technologies.

###