(National Institute of Standards and Technology: Gaithersburg, Maryland) -- The National Institute of Standards and Technology is hosting a meeting in Gaithersburg, Maryland on April 23 from 1 to 5 p.m.. The meeting will debate the organization of a semiformal consortium of the various consortia worldwide that are each working to enable standards-based interoperability (“plug–and–play”) in metrology systems.

These consortia include the I++ group, the AIAG MEPT, the DMSC, the IA.CMM, ISO TC184/SC4 and the CMSC.

The impetus for this planned meeting grew out of a concern expressed by metrologists at the IMIS meeting in 2006, that a common vision worldwide for metrology interoperability is needed. The success of the strategic automotive standards industry group (SASIG) consortium is another impetus for calling this meeting. SASIG has had an important role in the successful implementation of ISO STEP AP214 (automotive design processes).

Will the SASIG effort be a good model to achieve the common vision sought? If yes, the meeting will seek to define what form this new consortium will take: What are the goals of the new group? What will be the required work? Who will lead it? How will the work get done? What kind of memorandum of understanding will the groups define? What kind and level of funding, if any, will be required? Where will such funding come from? Where, when and how often will meetings be held?

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