TIA Electronic Tools Standards Development

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TIA Electronic Tools Standards Development

• Susan Hoyler
• Director, Standards Development and Promotion
• GSC/EWG Meeting
• Sydney, Australia November 2001

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Overview

• Electronic tools used by committees.
• FTP site - Reflector lists
• Mobile LANs - Web pages
• On-line ballot system
• New hardware for TIA
• Virtual meeting tools (web conferencing)
• Future developments

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FTP Site

• TIA assigns a password and username to each of
  its 101 Committees, Subcommittees, Working
  Groups, and Ad hoc Committees
• Each Group has two directories
• A volunteer from each group is designated as
  Electronic Document Coordinator (EDC)

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FTP Site

• EDCs administer the FTP site using FTP client
  software and the assistance of TIA staff
• Easy and versatile file management
• Reduction of TIA staff workload
• Person knowledgeable in work program of group
• Web browser access to the FTP site
• No plug-in software - No multiple downloads
• WYSIWYG interface - One group per session

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Reflector Lists

• Use of a 3rd-party provider called Lyris
  (www.lyris.com)
• Provide all server support on an off-site box
• Multiple email domains
• Security for each list
• Each group has its own list
• Commands can be made through email (i.e., auto
  unsubscribe and subscribe)

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Reflector Lists

• A Committee volunteer is the list administrator
  with help of TIA staff
• Initial reflector list is established by TIA staff

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Mobile LAN Deployment

• Support both wired and wireless LAN
  implementations
• TR-8, TR-45 and TR-46 use the TIA mobile LAN on a
  regular basis
• Provides real-time exchange of documents,
  contributions and updates.
• Someone on the committee or a staff person must
  be familiar with networking and computers and be
  able to do basic troubleshooting.

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Mobile LANs

• Toshiba Tecra 8100 350MHz (Laptop)
• 10/100 Ethernet Card
• 802.11b Access Point
• 10/100 Ethernet Hubs
• Connecting cables (RJ 45)

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Mobile LANs

• The mobile LAN usage has not been as widely
  accepted as was expected
• Security issues for users
• Limited computer networking knowledge at meetings
• International regulations
• Hesitancy to use by some of the groups

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Web Pages

• TIA has web pages for each of its Committees
• Contents of the Committee pages
• Annual Schedule - Meeting Notices
• Agendas - Scopes
• Committee web pages link to the secure FTP site

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Web Pages

• Committee webpages are administered by TIA staff
  using on-line posting tools developed by TIAs
  web department
• Functions are
• Document upload sorted by committee
• Automatic expiration of link based on date
• Adding Subcommittees and Working Groups to web
  pages.

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Web Pages

• All TIA standards forms are available on-line for
  the volunteers to complete and submit
• TIA has used web interface for its standards
  development requests
• TIA assisted ANSI in the development of on-line
  ANSI forms so that TIA members can complete them
  at the TIA site

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Web Pages

• Balloting on-line since January 1999.
• All ballots are posted to the Internet for
  download by the participants
• A password to access the ballot is distributed by
  email
• All submitted ballots are collected in a database
  and sent by email to TIA and the Chair of the
  Committee

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Web Pages

• Summaries of the ballot voting are compiled by a
  TIA staff person
• Results distributed to the Committee chairs by
  email

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On-Line Ballot System

• Ballot system redesigned but not yet deployed
• Features of new system
• Password protection per user not document
• Automated comment compilation
• Automated, real-time ballot summaries

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New Hardware for TIA

• New Cisco routers one main and one subsidiary at
  TIA HQ and another subsidiary at the TIA DC
  office to migrate from 10 Mb to 100 Mb LAN
• New Fiber Network Interface Cards (NIC),
  connecting equipment
• Packeteer PacketShaper for control and load
  leveling of bandwidth in the network.
  (http//www.packeteer.com/)

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Virtual Meeting Tools

• Experimented with
• Placeware - WebEx - others
• TIA selected Premiere as reseller which offers
  both Placeware and WebEx (www.premconf.com)

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Document Delivery

• TIA produces single use download of the cdma2000
  and ANSI-136 to comply with ITU requirements
• TR-41 Internet Telephony (VoIP) standards
  available for single use download on the TIA web
  page (www.tiaonline.org)

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Document Delivery

• All TIA documents are available in softcopy
  (since 1997) or hardcopy from our publisher
  IHS/Global Engineering Documents
  (http//ihs.global.com)
• IHS also provides subscription collections (i.e.,
  all TIA documents, all EIA documents)
• Some technology areas also have their own hard
  copy and/or electronic compilations (e.g., wiring
  standards)

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Document Delivery

• Participants who voted on final document and in
  its development, get an electronic copy of final
  document from TIA
• Individual electronic documents also available
  from TIA publisher

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Future Developments

• IPR statement collection and database on-line
• On-line database for all stages of a standards
  development
• Develop helpful hints pages for use by Chairs
  and committee members
• More use of web conferencing and web casting

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Thank you!

• Questions?