Standards are essential to the telecoms sector but SMEs can find the different bodies and processes difficult to navigate. As UKTIN’s Standards Champion, Andy Reid, a Sector Specialist at the University of Bristol collaborates with the UKTIN Standards Working Group to provide invaluable support and guidance. Read our interview below to learn more.
Please tell us about your role as UKTIN’s Standards Champion.
The standards in our sector are very pervasive. Telecoms fundamentally need component parts made by different manufacturers and operated by different network operators around the world to all work together, and standards are crucial to that. More than any other industry, telecoms is based around standards. But standards are more than just technical and can cut across other areas such as intellectual property. It is my role to bring that picture together.
I have worked in various telecoms standards bodies for many years and understand that the world of standards works differently to the academic and corporate worlds. It has its own nuances and peculiarities. As a standards champion I bring real-world standards experience and insight to UKTIN and its users, around how to get the best out of them.
A key part of my role is to work with and be available to SMEs that wouldn’t necessarily engage directly with standards. I want to provide that bridge.How can SMEs engage with you and what support do you offer?
The one thing we understand about SMEs is that no organisation is the same, so their needs when it comes to standards really vary. This is why a major part of what I can offer is 1:1, tailored advice. That can include providing insight on standards, guiding SMEs and encouraging them to engage with whichever standards body is relevant to them.
Please get in touch! I want people to approach me. I am available to sit down face-to-face or to visit people. Zoom or Teams works too, of course.
Head to the UKTIN site to learn more.- UTKIN has published a report today focusing on standards activity within the last quarter. Has anything particularly caught your eye?
There has been an awful lot of talk about 6G mobile. Over the past five years or so, we have made an effort to deploy 5G. From a standards point of view, this is coming to completion. What can we explore for the next generation of mobile?
The standards body for mobile, referred to as 3GPP (the name arose because it was initially set up by the regional standards bodies around the world to develop 3G mobile to a single global standard - that’s why global roaming works!) will launch next month their programme that will be focused on defining the standards for 6G. That caught my eye - times are changing, and progress is being made. - Which developments are particularly relevant for SMEs?
It is an ideal time for an SME with a good idea, and not just because of 6G. There are so many more possibilities and people are all ears right now. Telecoms is far bigger than people often first think: from industry 4.0, health applications, automotive applications, to new radio techniques and novel optical components giving ever more capacity, there are many avenues. There is a whole wide spectrum of verticals. So don’t worry if your idea feels out of scope. - What would you like SMEs to know about standards?
A key question to ask is, as an SME, how does your particular focus and idea interconnect and join up with other pieces? For an idea to work in telecoms, it inevitably must join up with other bits and pieces. Answering that question will likely point to which standards the SME need to engage with. When an SME considers how they are joined up to the ecosystem, that will lead them to understand which standards are important.
But the one thing they can be sure of is that standards will be important.
