The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) has
recommended standardization of Open XML (Extensible Markup Language) along
with other standards like Open Document Format (ODF) with a view to enhance
competition for the benefit of consumers and advancement of technology in
the IT industry.

In a communication to the IT Ministry, the ASSOCHAM President, Mr.
Venugopal N. Dhoot has stated that the Indian IT industry works on and
provides support on multiple technologies domestically and internationally,
keeping in mind the benefit of consumers. This has served us well so far
and India should continue to encourage multiple standards and pursuer
technological neutrality. Adding Open XML to the library of standards
enhances the choice available to users and benefits the country in the long
run.

The standardization of Open XML will mean that the technology that went
into its development will be available with an independent international
organization, ISO and open to all who want the specifications for their
interoperability needs. This will enhance interoperability across platforms
without the end user being dependent on any one vendor.

Mr. Dhoot said, India should harness its IT prowess and expertise to
contribute towards development of new standards as well as refine several
existing ones. China is fast developing their own standards in the field
of telecom and others. If India has to take a position of seemingly
opposing the emerge and addition of new standards, India should not set a
right precedent at the ISO for our own efforts to follow, added ASSOCHAM
Chief.

Extending support to the Indian public policy of Technology Neutrality, the
Chamber Chief further said, we should continue to practice. It is no
wonder that TRAI has placed it at the center of growth in telecom in its
publication `10 years achievement of TRAI’ released on 10th October 2007.
Plurality of standards is a natural corollary of the principle of
Technology Neutrality.

The open standards shall ensure interoperability, market competition and
free communication. For systems to communicate interfaces need to be
standardized. As any standard will be able to fulfill this, the idea
behind open standards is that it is more widely available and
non-discriminating making it easier to use. It is also easier for product
suppliers to implement the standard if it is royalty-free.

Through the openness of the standard, the proprietary aspect of standards
is taken out of the equation. No particular vendor can control or dominate
the standard as the standardization process is open. This will enable
other vendors to compete on equal terms because products can be developed
freely (no IPR or royalty, open documentation) that adhere to the standard
and therefore is “compatible” with existing products in the market.

To ensure the democratic rights of citizens to freely receive and send
digital documents with public organisations without being tied to any
proprietary standards. This assumption is that an open standard is not
owned or controlled by a particular vendor and citizens therefore have a
choice of products when communicating with the public sector. T his
requires that a wide range of products supports the “open standard”.