How to obtain standards documents

William B. Gardner, AT&T

Readers of this column often inquire about how to obtain standards documents. For documents still in draft form, contact the chairperson of the responsible committee. After a standard is published, however, established procedures must be followed to purchase copies.

Documents from The International Electrotechnical Commission can be purchased (in Swiss francs) from the IEC Sales Dept., Central Office of the IEC, 3 rue de Varembe, P.O. Box 131, 1211 Geneva 20, Switzerland, telephone: 41 22 734 0150, fax: 41 22 733 3843.

In the United States, IEC documents are available from the American National Standards Institute, Customer Service, 11 W. 42nd St., New York, NY 10036, telephone: (212) 642-4900, fax: (212) 302-1286. Non-members of ANSI must deposit $500 to open an account. Documents from the IEC relating to lightwave studies include Generic Specifications 793-1 for optical fibers and 794-1 for fiber cables.

Documents from The International Telecommunication Union can be ordered (in Swiss francs) from the ITU General Secretariat--Sales Section, Place des Nations, 1211 Geneva 20, Switzerland, telephone: 41 22 730 5111, fax: 41 22 730 5194.

For a fee, ITU documents can be ordered in the United States from Information Gatekeepers Inc., 214 Harvard Ave., Boston, MA 02134, telephone: (800) 323-1088, fax: (617) 734-8562.

The ITU no longer prints bound volumes of its recommendations, such as the 1988 Blue Book. Instead, it publishes individual recommendations, such as G.650 on singlemode fiber test methods or G.957 on optical interfaces for equipment and systems relating to synchronous digital hierarchy. The ITU also supplies documents on diskette or CD-ROM.

The ITU`s electronic database, ITUDOC, can be accessed with a personal computer. For details, contact the Information Services Department at the ITU`s Geneva address.

Documents published by the Telecommunications Industry Association, 2500 Wilson Blvd., Suite 300, Arlington, VA 22201, telephone: (703) 907-7700, fax: (703) 907-7727, can be purchased from Global Engineering Documents, 15 Inverness Way East, Englewood, CO 80112, telephone: (800) 854-7179, fax: (303) 397-7935. Global Engineering and ANSI also sell ITU documents.

The TIA has hundreds of draft standards and test methods that are specified by project numbers, and which later become standards proposals. With TIA authorization, Communications Standards Review, 757 Greer Rd., Palo Alto, CA 94303, telephone (415) 856-9018, fax: (415) 856-6591, publishes a Fiber Optics Standards Summary four times a year.

This journal gives the title, identification number and a brief description of all project numbers and standards proposals originating in the TIA FO-2, Optical Communications Systems and FO-6 Fiber Optics Committees. An acronym glossary and a calendar of upcoming TIA Committee meetings are also included.

Annual subscriptions are $250, and a free sample is available. In some cases, Communications Standards Review can also obtain project number drafts.

In addition to publishing standards, ITU, IEC and TIA also publish handbooks and design guides. Examples include the ITU Study Grouٸ Handbook on Construction, Installation, Jointing and Protection of Optical Fiber Cables; the IEC-1282-1 Single-Mode Digital and Analogue System Design Guide; and the EIA/TIA-559 Single-Mode Fiber Optic System Transmission Design. q