Technical Standards: Databases and Websites

Databases

Business Source Premier from EBSCOhost - Contains articles from scholarly and trade business journals on companies, industries, products, management, marketing, finance, business law, and technology.

Search Strategy:
Click on Thesaurus (BSP) to browse subject terms
Combine with standard*:
Example: Standard* AND “wireless communication systems”

If you know the name of the standard, search for it as a subject:

Example: IEEE 802.11

ABI/INFORM Complete (ProQuest)

Select Advanced Search, click on Thesaurus
Browse subject listings to find appropriate subject terms
Combine with standard* as Subject:
Example: Standard* AND “cellular telephones”

ACM Publications - Full text of journals, magazines, and proceedings from the Association for Computing Machinery.

Search by keywords or the name of the standard if you know it.

Websites

Technical Reports and White Papers

U.S. Government Google - Searches .gov and .mil domains only. Search for "IEEE 802.11" brings up white papers, reports etc.

Science.gov. Selected government science web sites and databases of technical reports, journal articles, conference proceedings, and other published materials.

Scientific and Technical Information Network (STINET) - A Defense Technical Information Center portal to the Deep-Web for Scientific & Technical Information. Some of the reports are available full-text. You can search 1) DOD Index of Specifications and Standards (DODISS), and 2) DTIC's Technical Reports Collection.

ZDNet IT Papers -- "the Web's largest library of technical white papers, Webcasts, and case studies".

Standards Organizations

World Standards Services Network (WSSN). A network of publicly accessible WWW servers of standards organizations around the world. WSSN provides links to information on international, regional, and national standardization and related activities on its member sites.

American National Standards Institute (ANSI). A non-profit organization that administers and coordinates the U.S. voluntary standardization and conformity assessment system.

NSSN / Standards Mall -- Standards information from major standards developers
Standards Developing Organizations

American Society for Testing Materials (ASTM). A not-for-profit organization that provides a forum for the development and publication of voluntary consensus standards for materials, products, systems, and services. Members represent producers, users, ultimate consumers, and representatives of government and academia and develop documents that serve as a basis for manufacturing, procurement, and regulatory activities.

Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). ACM, the Association for Computing Machinery, is an international scientific and educational organization dedicated to advancing the arts, sciences, and applications of information technology.

Consumer Electronics Association (CEA). CEA is a network of over 1000 companies within the U.S. consumer technology industry.

Electronic Industries Alliance (EIA). A partnership of high-tech associations and companies whose mission is to promote the market development and competitiveness of the U.S. high-tech industry through domestic and international policy efforts.

European Committee for Standardisation (CEN). A group founded in 1961 by national standards bodies in the European Economic Community and EFTA countries. Now CEN is contributing to the objectives of the European Union and European Economic Area with voluntary technical standards which promote free trade, the safety of workers and consumers, interoperability of networks, environmental protection, exploitation of research and development programs, and public procurement.

Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE). A non-profit, technical professional association and an authority in technical areas ranging from computer engineering, biomedical technology and telecommunications, to electric power, aerospace, and consumer electronics. IEEE has nearly 900 active standards with 700 under development.

International Organization for Standardization (ISO). A network of the national standards institutes of 147 countries and the world's largest developer of standards. The site provides access to the ISO Catalogue, Member List (i.e. national standardization bodies), and also to other international and regional organizations which develop standards in their specialized subject area, in addition to their principal activity.

International Telecommunication Union (ITU). An international organization within which governments and the private sector coordinate global telecom networks and services.

Internet Society. A professional membership society with more than 150 organization and 16,000 individual members in over 180 countries. It provides leadership in addressing issues that confront the future of the Internet, and is the organization home for the groups responsible for Internet infrastructure standards, including the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and the Internet Architecture Board (IAB). Articles on Internet issues can be found under Publications.

National Information Standards Organization (NISO). A non-profit association that identifies, develops, maintains, and publishes technical standards to manage information in digital environment. NISO standards apply both traditional and new technologies to the full range of information-related needs, including retrieval, re-purposing, storage, metadata, and preservation.

National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). A non-regulatory federal agency within the U.S. Commerce Department's Technology Administration. NIST's mission is to develop and promote measurement, standards, and technology to enhance productivity, facilitate trade, and improve the quality of life.

NIST Standards Activities
National Center for Standards and Certification Information (NCSCI) -- provides Export Alerts, information on foreign technical regulations

The Open Group. An international vendor and technology-neutral consortium that is committed to facilitating interoperability and creating and integrating specifications and open source technologies. The site offers newsletters, publication search, and case studies.

OpenStandards.net. A not-for-profit organization created to connect people to open standards and the bodies that build and foster their growth, integrating the various resources within the IT industry committed to increasing the synergy of international IT collaboration.

Standards Engineering Society (SES). an international group promoting the use of standards and standardization. SES members include standards producers, standards users, information specialists, and specialists outside of the engineering discipline. Members are from industry, commerce, academia, service organizations, government, and standards development organizations.

Wi-Fi Alliance
An organization made up of leading wireless equipment and software providers with the missions of certifying all 802.11-based products for interoperability and promoting the term Wi-Fi as the global brand name across all markets for any 802.11-based wireless LAN products.

World Wide Web Consortium (W3). W3C contributes to efforts to standardize Web technologies by producing specifications (called "Recommendations") that describe the building blocks of the Web. W3C has developed more than fifty technical specifications for the Web's infrastructure. W3C makes these Recommendations (and other technical reports) freely available to all.

Commercial Providers of Standards and Specifications

Standards providers have catalogs that allow you to purchase standards. They also help you verify whether a given standard is current:

Techstreet - Technical Information Superstore. Provides a newsletter that will keep you up-to-date on new, revised, withdrawn or amended standards.

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