Q. What is OMA SpecWorks?

All OMA members operate under the same IPR policy.
In the course of specifications work, the Open Mobile Alliance receives contributions in various forms. To best facilitate the dissemination of these contributions, it is necessary to understand any intellectual property rights (‘IPR’) relating to the contributions. About OMASpecworks video

Q. Why is there a need for a “specifications factory” like OMA SpecWorks?

OMA SpecWorks recognizes the need for engineers to define and create specifications quickly. OMA SpecWorks was established to meet this goal. Developing specifications is a specialized skill that requires flexible procedures, tools for developing and updating the requirements and technical specifications, an infrastructure for testing and maintaining the specifications, and the ability to reach across to other standards bodies to share and reference the work product.

OMA SpecWorks offers an established, professionally managed process that does the following:

• Brings together companies with common goals
• Provides the infrastructure, legal foundation, tools and process
• Offers a tested process to create technical specifications
• Helps ensure a fair process where all the stakeholders are heard
• Develops test cases and test events to help ensure implementations are interoperable
• Publishes and maintains the resulting specifications for future implementers

Q. What has changed?

The OMA Board looked critically at the standards industry and how OMA fits into it. OMA has a long history of developing inter-related specifications that supported a complex set of services over a mixed bearer network. As the bearer network technologies consolidated and as the service layer matured, our work began to change. The complex procedures we employed to ensure compatibility across service enablers was less relevant. We have set our sights on creating greater working group autonomy and operational efficiency. Simply put, we want OMA to be the best place to get work done quickly and efficiently.

Q. Why merge with IPSO Alliance?

It is an ideal match. IPSO felt they had completed their mission of advocacy for smart objects and were moving in a direction where a specification-track was needed. OMA was already using IPSO objects in its LWM2M work. OMA and IPSO were happy to work together to provide a home for the IPSO work going forward. This is not new to OMA. OMA started its life by rolling up and accommodating other organizations’ work. It’s a smart way to operate because it creates a single place for engineers to work under a common process. The IPSO Alliance brings new ideas and contributors into the SpecWorks community.

Q. Is anyone else doing what OMA SpecWorks is doing?

Technical associations are formed and launched every year and there are a number of large standards bodies that are active in the communications industry. However, moving a project from an idea to a set of requirements to a technical specification takes an experience that new associations can struggle with. An organization like OMA SpecWorks, with its rich history of specification development, offers an efficient process, leveraging its experience of creating over 200 unique specifications over the last 16 years. The large associations often have many competing priorities and present higher hurdles to establishing new projects. OMA attempts to find the right path to make creating new specification projects easier to start and easier to complete.

Q. How do you participate in OMA SpecWorks?

It depends on your objectives. All of OMA’s specifications are available for download right from the OMA SpecWorks website. Implementers may get started right away. Companies interested in creating a specification may begin by completing an application and joining OMA SpecWorks. Members can contribute to an existing specification or propose a new project. A minimum number of sponsoring companies must agree to work on a proposed specification for the specification development process to start. This ensures a project will have the resources and staff to move forward and be successful.

Q. What does OMA SpecWorks hope to accomplish?

OMA SpecWorks is an established Standards Development Organization with worldwide reach and a membership that is expert in mobile networking and the future of service layer specifications for mobile and IOT applications. OMA SpecWorks will be successful if it continues doing what it has been doing for over a decade.

However, innovative ideas are the lifeblood of any specification setting body. OMA SpecWorks’ goal is to seek out companies interested in collaborating on new communications services and developing specifications that will help those services move into wide adoption. OMA SpecWorks has members with huge developer communities and we would expect to see those companies bringing new projects into OMA SpecWorks from emerging business units of their organizations. OMA SpecWorks has a long history of collaboration with other standards bodies and has the opportunity to work in some of their related emerging markets such as healthcare, automotive and industrial controls.

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