2003 Annual Report

Standards Are All Around Us

Put a CD into your computer, and it loads. Make a cell phone call, and it travels through airways to its destination. In the modern age, technological progress means "network goods" work with each other. That's because of standards: common technologies and modes of operation that create interoperability. The payments industry also has standards. These allow debit cards to function with readers, ATM cards to work with machines, and online bill payments to travel from your bank account to your biller. Other well-known standards:

Railroad Tracks
Imagine the wasted time if a train starting out in New York had to be unloaded in St. Louis because the railroad tracks did not line up with the train's wheels. That used to happen, and it prompted development of the standard railroad track 4 feet 8 inches wide. This gauge was mandated for use in the Transcontinental Railroad in 1864, and by 1886 had become the U.S. standard.

Fire Hydrants
Fire hose couplings always match fire hydrants, right? Not always. In 1904, reinforcements from New York, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. turned out to help battle a blaze in Baltimore that engulfed 80 city blocks. But their fire hoses didn't fit the Baltimore hydrants. Shortly afterward, a national standard was created.

Source: American National Standards Institute