Computer and communications standards: impact on the marketplace

Summary form only given, as follows. Computer and communications standards can help to reduce marketplace risks and uncertainties for both users and vendors. Standard specifications promote common understandings and expectations for products. When widely recognized and supported, such standards promise to provide users with off-the-shelf, compatible products needed to achieve increased productivity and delivery of services at reduced cost. Without these standards, users cannot easily link products of different manufacturers together into systems and networks. The session identifies and explores the intended and likely impact of emerging standards in the national and global marketplaces.