For Immediate Release
ATIS 1200 G Street, NW Suite 500 Washington, DC 20005	Contact: Trish Gessner Phone: 202-434-8851 E-mail: tgessner@atis.org www.atis.org

February 2, 2005, WASHINGTON – Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and network security were among the key communications topics addressed at the ANSI/European Standards Organizations (ESO) meeting, held last week in Washington, D.C.

The ESO meeting is held annually to foster market-relevant standards between European and U.S. interests in both government and industry.

“This was an important opportunity for representatives from ATIS to sit down with the ranking officials from Europe’s standards organizations,” said Susan M. Miller, president and CEO of ATIS. “ATIS has engaged in a number of international standards activities in the past year, and meetings such as this help ensure that the different regions understand the strategic and regulatory issues in other regions.”

In the arena of VoIP, it was agreed that in both Europe and North America the rate of technology development is outpacing the regulatory environment. Attendees agreed that EU and US regulations dealing with communications services would benefit from being more closely aligned, particularly as they relate to accessibility for the disabled community and for lawful intercept. The participants also determined that the industry would benefit from common vocabularies as it develops VoIP and other new communications services.

The presentations on network security also highlighted commonalities and areas for further cooperation. Much of the presentation from the Europeans emphasized the need for standardized installation and implementation of the physical network. Much of the American discussion built upon that by emphasizing security issues for existing and emerging communications applications.

More than 60 participants, including ranking officials of the European Committee for Standardization (CEN), the European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization (CENELEC) and the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI), participated, along with members of ANSI’s US Delegation.

For more details about the meeting, visit www.ansi.org.

ATIS is a technical planning and standards development organization that is committed to rapidly developing and promoting technical and operations standards for the communications and related information technologies industry worldwide using a pragmatic, flexible and open approach. Participants from more than 350 communications companies are active in ATIS’ 20 industry committees, and its Incubator Solutions Program. www.atis.org

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