International Standards – IEC, ISO and ITU

Aug. 8, 2014
All of us are conscious that international standards play an important role in the design and implementation of automation and control systems as these are the areas in which we are most closely aligned. However in addition to automation standards the IEC and ISO also develop a wide range of documents across the full spectrum of engineering and in many cases it is useful to know what they are. Fortunately, both organizations publish regular newsletters to share new developments, trends and successes.

In addition to playing an important role affecting the ability for engineers in particular to be able to do our work, integrate and connect devices, and even communicate with each other. Each of the key organizations that develop standards related to the automation and control sector publish newsletters multiple times a year to share not only technology trends but also results of new standards being released and proposed, thus an excellent opportunity to either become involved during the proposed work stage, or at least incorporate these forthcoming standards in your strategic planning process.

The ITU (International Telecommunication Union) is the United Nations specialized agency for information and communication technologies who publish their newsletter 10 times/year. The ITU News can be found at https://itunews.itu.int/en/

ISOfocus is ISO’s (International Organization for Standardization) 8 times per year newsletter which can be accessed at http://www.iso.org/iso/home/news_index/iso_magazines/isofocusplus_index.htm Since Geneva based ISO publishes specifications for products, services and systems, to ensure quality, safety and efficiency they cover a broad spectrum of topics from finance, to quality control and of course controls.

The IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission) in which I am actively involved prepares and publishes international standards for all electrical, electronic and related technologies. The IEC’s e-tech is published 10 times per year http://www.iec.ch/etech/ or if you wish it is now also available as an app in either the iTunes or Google play stores thus making it even easier to stay in touch any time anywhere.