Summary

34 IT Essentials: PC Harware and Software Companion Guide■■■■ISO together with the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) and theInternational Telecommunication Union (ITU) have built a strategic partnership withthe World Trade Organization (WTO).IAB: The Internet Architecture Board is the committee that oversees the technical andengineering development of the Internet by the Internet Society (ISOC). The committeeoversees the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and the Internet Research TaskForce (IRTF). When the Internet transitioned to a public entity in 1992, the name waschanged to what it is today, the Internet Architecture Board, originally formed by theU.S. Department of Defense.IEC: Founded in 1906, the International Electrotechnical Commission is the globalorganization that prepares and publishes international standards for all electrical, electronic,and related technologies. The IEC was founded because of a resolution passedat the International Electrical Congress held in St. Louis (U.S.) in 1904. The membershipconsists of more than 60 participating countries, including all the world’s majortrading nations and a growing number of industrialized countries. The IEC’s mission isto promote, through its members, international cooperation on all questions related toelectrotechnologies, electroacoustics, multimedia, telecommunications, and energy productionand distribution, as well as associated general disciplines such as terminologyand symbols, electromagnetic compatibility, design and development, safety, and theenvironment.The IEC is one of the bodies recognized by the World Trade Organization (WTO) andentrusted by it to monitor the national and regional organizations agreeing to use theIEC’s international standards as the basis of national or regional standards as part of theWTO’s Technical Barriers to Trade Agreement.ANSI: The American National Standards Institute is a private, nonprofit organizationthat administers and coordinates the U.S. voluntary standardization and conformityassessment system. ANSI identifies industrial and public requirements for national consensusstandards and coordinates and manages their development, resolves nationalstandards problems, and ensures effective participation in international standardization.Since 1918, the institute’s mission has been to enhance both the global competitivenessof U.S. business and quality of life by promoting and facilitating voluntary consensusstandards and conformity assessment systems and safeguarding their integrity.ANSI does not develop standards itself. Rather, it facilitates development by establishingconsensus processes among qualified groups. This is why its acronym is seen onmany standards.TIA/EIA: The Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) and ElectronicIndustries Association (EIA) are trade associations that jointly develop and publish aseries of standards covering structured voice and data wiring for LANs. These industry