On-line database hacks through standards jungle

The American National Standards Institute will launch an on-line database of telecommunication standards in 1998. The development of the National Standards Systems Network database, which may be accessed via the Internet, was financed by a $2 million grant from the National Institute of Science and Technology. According to project director Ron Walker, however, concerns about security, user payments, copyright, access and ownership issues could delay the launch.
For telecom equipment vendors such as ADC Telecommunications, standards are more than recipes for developing products. They are guidelines for what the marketplace expects. They also can be a source [...]