Can the ITU Become Internet Caretaker?
” Interactive Week [www.interactiveweek.com] (03/27/00) Vol. 7, No. 12, P. 24; Ploskina, Brian The International Telecommunications Union (ITU), a public-network standards-setting body, has undertaken efforts to transform itself from an organization that merely approves standards for Internet equipment and processes developed by others into one that quickly and efficiently formulates, approves, and implements its own Internet standards. Frustrated by the snail-like pace of the ITU approval process, equipment manufacturers, carriers, and ISPs have been utilizing proprietary approaches to designing Internet equipment, processes and networks. Also, several groups exist to bypass the ITU and set standards for specific aspects of the Internet, such as the ATM Forum, formed in response to the advance of asynchronous transfer mode technology, and the Internet Engineering Task Force. Potential revisions to the practices of the ITU are being discussed by the 27 members of the newly-formed ITU R
