India’s first global ICT Standardization Forum for India (GISFI) takes off

NEW DELHI, INDIA: The industries and academicians have come together for the launch of Global ICT Standardization Forum for India (GISFI), under the guidance of Centre for TeleInFrastruktur (CTIF). GISFI has been set up as a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) entity.

This will include industry, academia, manufacturers, operators, standardization bodies and government. It is very essential to work together in order to have a faster implementation of the standards.

The main objective of GISFI is to harmonize and unify the standardization efforts within the Indian market and work in close cooperation with all standardization bodies acting as a catalyst for India’s growth as a knowledge-based economy. This would also result in improved competitiveness within companies and create conducive investor-friendly environment.

All the developed countries, or a group of countries, have their own standards development organizations which formulate standards for their countries on the basis of applied research and development. These standards, sometimes, are country-specific thereby creating lots of interconnectivity and interoperability problems. No such concerted efforts exist presently in India, and as a result we simply follow the standards created by other countries, and invariably the aforesaid problems crop-up.

The need for such a body was conceived by Prof. Ramjee Prasad, who, after consulting international companies and organizations, felt that it was imperative for India to have a ‘single’ standardization body that would represent India in totality. The purpose was to alleviate the challenges of a highly fragmented marketplace, and to foster healthy competition, creating an environment that is conducive to both domestic and international investment.

Prof. Ramjee Prasad, in consonance with several other major Indian companies and academia, decided to create GISFI, which will be a non-profit standardization forum, dedicated to the Indian market in the field of ICT.

GISFI will provide a platform for discussion where issues related to standardization will be deliberated, information exchanged, and knowledge shared between all stakeholders. On reaching consensus among all the bodies, GISFI will appropriately frame the draft standards under the term “GISFI Standard” and then forward it to the appropriate national body for acceptance. The standards will then be taken on international level for global acceptance.

The process would result in more coordinated growth of the network and services in India. As the R&D activities would be carried out in India, it would be possible to quickly deploy the new products and services for field trial, followed by swift modifications on the basis of rapid feedback, the costs of such developments would be much lower. This would result in much faster deployment of network as well as of roll-out of new services. The entire process would also provide the necessary fillip for much needed attention and efforts in the neglected rural areas.

This would further fuel the concerted efforts of indigenous R&D activities increasingly funded by the benefited industry, thereby providing even more opportunities for the academia where more fresh talent would be infused, completing the cycle. The spin-offs of all these activities will also greatly benefit the entire society.

Speaking on the occasion Ramjee Prasad, Director, CTIF said, “GISFI will lead towards the growth of India scientifically, financially and industrially and this is the first step to bring India on the Global Map.”

Sachin Pilot, Minister of State for Communications and IT added, “Government supports GISFI’s initiatives and I am sure that this initiative would bring India to newer heights setting high standards globally."

Further GISFI’s effort will be directed towards addressing the specificity of the Indian market and towards the larger Indian population to reduce digital divide and also keep them abreast of the future scenarios. It will also act as an information centre on Indian activities pertaining to ICT, besides promoting Indian initiatives to become global standards.