5. Open standards
Rapid technological advancement and intensified time-to-market demands and consumer expectation is driving the industry to adopt more efficient ways to define global standards. A complimentary, market driven model of standards, allowing for innovation, collaboration, and technology excellence is now used in internet standards development by the W3C, the IETF, and the IEEE .
Open Internet standards allow developers to set up new services without requiring permission. These standards give users permission to copy, distribute, and use technology freely or at low cost. Organisations, including government agencies that opt to use open standards, enable digital transformation by allowing interoperability of systems, sustainability by reducing cost, and increasing accessibility to opportunities including the IT contracts.
These principles describe how the UK government will specify and select open standards, and how these standards can be implemented in open source and proprietary software. They support the open data and digital strategies set out in the Government Transformation Strategy 2017-2020 and the UK Digital Strategy.
The selected standards enable software to interoperability through open protocols and data exchange between software and data stores.
The 7 principles for selecting open standards for use in government are:
1. Open standards must meet user needs.
2. Open standards must give suppliers equal access to government contracts.
3. Open standards must support flexibility and change.
4. Open standards must support sustainable cost.
5. Select open standards using well-informed decisions.
6. Select open standards using fair and transparent processes.
7. Specify and implement open standards using fair and transparent processes.
The OpenStand initiative is a movement dedicated to promoting a proven set of principles that establish The Modern Paradigm for Standard endorsed by bodies including the IEEE, the IETF, the Internet Architecture Board (IAB), the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), and the Internet Society.
| Video: The OpenStand Community rallies at the SXSW. Featuring Tim Berners-Lee (W3C), Padmasree Warrior (CISCO), and Dave McAllister (ADOBE). |
Figure 4: 5 Core principles for open standards development source: Open-Stand