The new Commission is called "ITU-T Study Group 20: IoT and its applications, including smart cities and communities." It will be responsible for international standards that will facilitate the coordinated development of IoT technologies, including machine-to-machine communications and ubiquitous sensor networks. The Commission will develop standards that will enable the use of IoT technologies to address the challenges of urban development. A key part of this study will be the standardization of end-to-end architectures for IoT and mechanisms for the interoperability of IoT applications and datasets used by various vertically oriented industrial sectors.
The deployment of IoT technologies is expected to connect some 50 billion devices to the network by 2020, impacting nearly every aspect of our daily lives. IoT contributes to the convergence of industrial sectors, with sectors such as utilities, healthcare, and transportation showing interest in the future of IoT technologies. The new ITU-T Study Group will be the specialized IoT standardization platform needed to ensure this convergence is supported by a coherent set of international standards.
IoT technologies offer developed and developing countries the opportunity to transform urban infrastructure by leveraging the efficiency of smart buildings and transport systems, as well as smart grids for energy and water. The ITU is ideally positioned to help the public and private sectors capitalize on this opportunity.
“Creating sustainable smart cities will require efficient collaboration between the public and private sectors,” said Houlin Zhao, Secretary-General of the ITU. “This new ITU-T Study Commission will bring together diverse stakeholders and put the ITU’s technical expertise to work for other sectors, as well as for national and metropolitan administrations responsible for urban development.”.
“The next five years will be crucial to ensuring that IoT technologies reach their full potential,” said Chaesub Lee, Director of the ITU Telecommunication Standardization Bureau. “The ITU-T is very active in IoT standardization, and we intend to help cities around the world create the necessary conditions for IoT technologies to demonstrate their value in addressing the challenges of urban development.”.
In May, Dubai became the first city in the world to assess the efficiency and sustainability of its operations using the key performance indicators developed by the ITU-T Thematic Group on Smart and Sustainable Cities (FG-SSC). The two-year pilot project will evaluate the feasibility of the indicators with a view to contributing to their international standardization.
“IoT networks will enhance our understanding of how cities function and increase opportunities to improve their efficiency,” said Nasser Almarzouqi of the UAE’s telecommunications regulator, Chairman of the new Study Commission. “With participants representing the diverse stakeholders in the information and communication technology field, this Study Commission will be influential in promoting the development of highly effective ‘systems of systems’ that will help bridge the digital divide and create a more connected world.”.
Singapore has offered to host the inaugural meeting of the IoT Study Commission.
The ITU presented a vision of the IoT in the well-known "Internet of Things" report published in 2005, along with several other ITU reports on the Internet. The new Study Commission builds on the ITU-T's experience in developing IoT standards and the findings of the FG-SSC, which recently concluded its activities with the publication of 21 reports and technical specifications.
The decision to create a new ITU-T Study Group was taken by the Telecommunication Standardization Advisory Group (TSAG) at its meeting from 2 to 5 June at ITU Headquarters in Geneva. TSAG is empowered to modify the ITU-T's structure and work program between quadrennial World Telecommunication Standardization Assemblies, giving the ITU-T the agility to reflect its members' changing priorities.
The ITU-T Study Groups develop international standards (ITU-T Recommendations) that enable the interconnection and interoperability of ICT networks and devices.
