(ANSI: New York) -- Nearly 90 participants gathered together from June 24-25 for the 2008 Open Forum for Standards Developers, hosted by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) in Washington, D.C.

The second-largest open forum to date, this year’s event was attended by representatives from a diverse range of standards-setting organizations, including 54 participants who were attending an open forum for the first time.

Addressing the future of standardization in the United States and abroad, the open forum provided an opportunity for all voices from the standards community to be heard. Representatives from standards developing organizations (SDOs) and standards-setting organizations (SSOs) joined industry stakeholders and policy makers at the conference—the fourth of its kind—for an open exchange of ideas and opinions.

“SDOs and consortia travel along similar paths. Quite often, there are more commonalities than differences—and lessons learned by one can benefit others,” says S. Joe Bhatia, ANSI president and CEO. “By working together, we make a collective commitment to support stakeholders around the globe that are relying upon the standards that U.S.-based standard-setting bodies produce.”

 …