Open Mobile Alliance

The charter of the OMA is to deliver open standards and specifications based upon market and customer requirements, establish centers of excellence for best practices and conduct interoperability testing, create a common industry view on an architectural framework, and be the catalyst for the consolidation of standards, working in conjunction IETF, 3GPP, 3GPP2, W3C, JCP

The OMA has consolidated the following organizations under its umbrella:

1. WAP Forum
2. Wireless Village
3. SyncML
4. Location Interoperability Forum
5. MMS Interoperability Group
6. Mobile Wireless Internet Forum
7. Mobile Games Interoperability Forum

The OMA manages specifications for enablers for mobile browsing, multimedia messaging, digital rights management, DNS looking via mobile devices, mobile content download, e-mail push notification, user/device profiles, and instant messaging and presence services.

Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA)

TIA is the regional telephony standards organization for the United States. American National Standards Institute (ANSI) has accredited TIA as a major contributor of voluntary industry standards that promote trade and commerce in communications products, including wireless communications.  Relevant TIA committees for wireless interoperability and standards work as part of the TR-45 committee; the subcommittee areas of responsibility are Analog Technology (TR45.1), Wireless Intersystem Technology (TR45.2), Time Division Digital technology (TR45.3), Radio to Switching Technology (TR45.4), Spread Spectrum Digital Technology (TR45.5) and Adjunct Wireless Packet Data Technology (TR45.6).  TIA also interacts with international standards groups such as ITU, 3GPP, and ETSI

International Telecommunications Union (ITU)

The ITU is an international organization within which governments and the private sector coordinate global telecom network and services standards.

European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI)

ETSI (the European Telecommunications Standards Institute) is a not for profit organization whose mission is to produce the telecommunications standards that will be used throughout Europe and beyond

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ETSI includes members inside and outside Europe, and represents administrations, network operators, manufacturers, service providers, research bodies and users. ETSI plays a major role in developing a wide range of standards and other technical documentation as Europe's contribution to world-wide standardization in telecommunications, broadcasting and information technology. ETSI's prime objective is to support global harmonization by providing a forum in which all the key players can contribute actively.

The ETSI Protocol and Testing Competence Centre (PTCC) is a unique resource available to ETSI Technical Bodies for the application of leading-edge specification, validation and testing techniques in ETSI deliverables

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The task of the PTCC is to help the ETSI membership produce the very best standards and products possible.

World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) develops interoperable technologies (specifications, guidelines, software, and tools) to lead the Web to its full potential.  The W3C develops common protocols that promote the evolution of the web and ensure its interoperability.

Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)

The IETF is a large open international community of network designers, operators, vendors, and researchers concerned with the evolution of the Internet architecture and the smooth operation of the internet. Members of the IETF develop new internet standards. It is open to any interested individual.

Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP)

The 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) is a collaboration agreement that was established in December 1998.  The collaboration agreement brings together a number of telecommunications standards bodies which are known as “Organizational Partners”. 

The current Organizational Partners are ARIB, CWTS, ETSI, T1, TTA, and TTC.

The original scope of 3GPP was to produce globally applicable Technical Specifications and Technical Reports for a 3rd Generation Mobile System based on evolved GSM core networks and the radio access technologies that they support (i.e., Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA) both Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) and Time Division Duplex (TDD) modes).  The scope was subsequently amended to include the maintenance and development of the Global System for Mobile communication (GSM) Technical Specifications and Technical Reports including evolved radio access technologies (e.g. General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) and Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE)).

Third Generation Partnership Project 2 (3GPP2)

The Third Generation Partnership Project 2 is a collaborative third generation (3G) telecommunications specifications-setting project comprising North American and Asian interests developing global specifications for ANSI/TIA/EIA-41 "Cellular Radio telecommunicatoin Intersystem Operations network evolution to 3G and global specifications for the radio transmission technologies (RTTs) supported by ANSI/TIA/EIA-41.                

3GPP2 was born out of the International Telecommunication Union's () International Mobile Telecommunications "IMT-2000" initiative, covering high speed, broadband, and Internet Protocol (IP)-based mobile systems featuring network-to-network interconnection, feature/service transparency, global roaming and seamless services independent of location. IMT-2000 is intended to bring high-quality mobile multimedia telecommunications to a worldwide mass market by achieving the goals of increasing the speed and ease of wireless communications, responding to the problems faced by the increased demand to pass data via telecommunications, and providing "anytime, anywhere" services.

SIP Forum

The mission of the SIP Forum is to promote awareness and provide information about the benefits and capabilities that are enabled by SIP.  SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) is emerging as the protocol of choice for setting up conferencing, telephony, multimedia and other types of communication sessions on the Internet. SIP may also be used for new types of communications, such as instant messaging and application level mobility across various networks, including wireless, and across user devices.

Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS)

ATIS is a North American standards body that is leading the development of telecommunications standards, operating procedures and guidelines through its sponsored committees and forums. ATIS member companies are from North America and are providers of telecommunications services, and include wireline and wireless service providers, competitive local carriers, interexchange companies, local exchange companies, manufacturers, software developers, resellers, enhanced service providers, and providers of operations support. ATIS sponsors technical forums to identify standards and operating procedures for network interoperability, new services interoperability, global wireless communications, roaming, number portability, etc.

Bluetooth

Bluetooth is an alliance between leaders in the telecommunications and computer industries to create a wireless standard between mobile PCs, mobile phones, and other portable devices.  Bluetooth is a standard for cable replacement for wireless devices and operates in the 2.4 Ghz ISM band.

American National Standards Institute (ANSI)

ANSI serves as the administrator and coordinator of the United States private sector voluntary standardization system.  It is a private, nonprofit membership organization.

Infrared Data Association (IrDA)

IrDA is an international organization that creates and promotes interoperable, low cost infrared data interconnection standards that support a walk-up, point-to-point user model. The Infrared Data Association standards support a broad range of appliances, computing and communications devices.

IrDA's international membership is drawn from major hardware, systems, software, peripherals, component, and communications manufacturers, cable and telephone companies, automobile and service providers.

Wireless DSL Consortium

The Wireless DSL Consortium seeks to establish an open, standard air interface for the 2 to 4 GHz Point to Multipoint Broadband Wireless Access market.  The spectrum covers the multichannel multipoint distribution service (MMDS) in the US and Canada, as well as the 3.5GHz bands being made available in other countries.  The consortium will pursue a multifaceted standard that takes advantage of multicarrier design that is significantly enhanced by smart antenna and smart system technologies to increase capacity and coverage. 

Portable Computer and Communications Association (PCCA)

The purpose of the PCCA is to enable, develop, and promote the adoption of software and hardware standards and recommendations for interoperable mobile computing and communications. The PCCA Modem Standards Committee recently finished work on NDIS. Wireless NDIS, or STD-201 as it is officially designated, will allow software developers to add wireless capability to Windows applications such that they can work uniformly over any wireless wide area data modem or network, including Analog and Digital Cellular, Ardis, CDPD, Metricom, Mobitex, and future broadband and narrowband PCS networks.  The PCCA Modem Standards Committee's previous achievements include the release of PCCA STD-101, a Wireless AT Command Set that is an open data link interface for switched and packet-switched wide-area network modems.

Wireless LAN Alliance (WLANA)

The Wireless LAN Association is a non-profit educational trade association for the local area wireless technology industry. Through the vast knowledge and experience of its members, WLANA provides a clearinghouse of information about wireless local area applications, issues and trends and serves as a resource to customers and prospects of wireless local area products and wireless personal area products and to industry press and analysts.

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) -  Standards Group 802

Through its members, the IEEE is a leading authority in technical areas ranging from computer engineering, biomedical technology and telecommunications, to electric power, aerospace and consumer electronics, among others. The IEEE has nearly 900 active standards with 700 under development.  The Standards Group 802 has produced the standards for LAN technology and, with the addition of the 802.11 committee, is developing the standards for wireless LANs.

Wireless Location Industry Association (WLIA)

The Wireless Location Industry Association (WLIA) is the voice of the emerging wireless location industry.  WLIA's member companies provide hardware, software, services and other products related to the new ability to locate the precise origin of wireless radio signals. They add consumer value based on the geographic locations of wireless device users.

Liberty Alliance

The Liberty Alliance Project is an alliance formed to deliver and support a federated network identity solution for the Internet that enables single sign-on for consumers as well as business users in an open, federated way. The key objectives of the Liberty Alliance are to develop specifications that enable service providers to protect consumer privacy, provide an open single sign-on specification that includes federated authentication from multiple providers operating independently, enable commercial and non-commercial organizations to control, maintain and enhance relationships and create a network identity infrastructure that supports all current and emerging network access devices.

WiFi Alliance

The Wi-Fi Alliance is a nonprofit international association formed in 1999 to certify interoperability of wireless Local Area Network products based on IEEE 802.11 specification. Currently the Wi-Fi Alliance has 193 member companies from around the world, and 522 products have received Wi-Fi certification since certification began in March of 2000. The goal of the Wi-Fi Alliance's members is to enhance the user experience through product interoperability.