What is ITS?
The International Telecommunications Society (ITS) is an association of professionals in the information, communications, and technology sectors. ITS is an independent, non-aligned and not-for-profit organization with a worldwide network of about 400 members. ITS provides a forum where academic, private sector, and government communities can meet to identify pressing new problems and issues, share research results, and form new relationships and approaches to address outstanding issues. ITS focuses on the evolving applications, services, technology, and infrastructure of the communications, computing, Internet, information content, and related industries. The goal of ITS is to research and analyze issues related to the emergence of a global information society.The organization places particular emphasis on the interrelationships among socioeconomic, technological, legal, regulatory, competitive, organizational, policy, and ethical dimensions of the issues it addresses.
How ITS Achieves its Goals
ITS achieves its goals by providing forums where academic, business,
and government researchers as well as industry practitioners, policy makers,
representatives of international bodies, and consultants present and discuss
research results, and may interact in spontaneous ways. The most important
of such forums is a series of ITS biennial international conferences.
In response to specific needs as they develop, ITS also organizes local
and regional symposia, seminars, workshops, and courses. If requested
and found appropriate, ITS may also support -- in the form of participation,
sponsoring, coordinating, or advising -- other organizations' conferences
and events. ITS encourages and supports the participation of young researchers
in its conferences. ITS disseminates research results and news to its
members and to the general public via traditional and electronic means
including Telecommunications Policy, the membership journal of ITS, the ITS Newsletter,
and the ITS Web site, www.itsworld.org.
ITS Areas of Interest
The list below provides examples of current topics of interest to ITS'
members. Areas of ITS interest include topics which have major impacts
on the telecommunications industry. These topics are dynamic as new topics
arise while others become less important reflecting the rapid
pace of change in the industry. This list of examples is by no means inclusive,
and by intent, the topics are not mutually exclusive reflecting different
perspectives on similar issues as well as the complexity of many of these
issues. Some of the forward-looking areas on the following list are also
intended to reflect our strategic direction:
(1) The challenges and opportunities for traditional telecom providers
in developed and developing countries in transitioning from their critically
important role in voice telephony and its associated infrastructure to
an expanded role in evolving to next generation networks and to a global
information society where capacity requirements for data will far outweigh
those for voice. A few examples of the many key issues in this evolution
include:
- interoperability among heterogeneous network technologies
and among applications
- quality of service
- the role of the Internet Protocol
- network infrastructure evolution scenarios
- alternative technological and economic arrangements
among service providers
- pricing structure issues
(2) Application areas which may provide major societal and economic benefits
including health care, education, electronic commerce, intelligent transportation
systems, entertainment, advanced interpersonal communications, etc.
(3) Industry structure implications of the emergence of Applications
Service Providers.
(4) Evolving infrastructure, services, and applications in industries
that are converging, integrating, or competing with the traditional
telecommunications industry such as the computing, Internet, entertainment,
and information content industry. An example would be the prognosis for
Internet Telephony in various market segments and its impact on traditional
telecommunications firms.
(5) Emerging entrants into telecommunications from industries such as
electric, gas and water utilities or transportation companies.
(6) Telecommunications sector transformation including corporatization,
privatization, deregulation, commercialization, and competition.
(7) Business, technology, and policy issues related to alternative access
technologies (e.g., xDSL, cable, wireless cable, etc.), access appliances
(PCs, personal access devices, multi-function wireless phones, Web TV,
etc.), transport technologies, switching/routing equipment, etc.
(8) In all of the above areas of interest, the research and analysis
often includes one or more of the following:
- strategic analysis
- demand studies
- competitive analysis
- revenue, cost, and profitability impacts of change
- economy of scale and agglomeration
- analysis of alternative network architectures and
technologies
- organizational analysis
- regulatory and policy analysis
In order to adapt to the ever-changing environment in which it operates,
ITS periodically reviews the areas of its interests and activities.
|
