Ecma International

Ecma International (Ecma) is an international, private (membership-based) non-profit standards organization for information and communication systems. [ [http://www.ecma-international.org/memento/Ecmabylaws.htm Ecma By-laws ] ] It acquired its name in 1994, when the "European Computer Manufacturers Association" (ECMA) changed its name to reflect the organization's international reach. As a consequence, the name is no longer considered an acronym and no longer uses full capitalization.

The organization was originally founded in 1961 to standardize computer systems in Europe. Membership is open to companies that produce, market or develop computer or communication systems in Europe. It is located in Geneva.

Aims

Ecma aims to develop standards and technical reports to facilitate and standardize the use of information communication technology and consumer electronics; encourage the correct use of standards by influencing the environment in which they are applied; and publish these standards and reports in electronic and printed form. Ecma publications, including standards, can be freely copied by all interested parties without copyright restrictions. The development of standards and technical reports is done in co-operation with the appropriate national, European and international organizations.

Unlike national standardization bodies, Ecma is a membership-based organization. It takes pride in the resulting "business-like" approach to standards, claimed to lead to better standards in less time, thanks to a less bureaucratic process focused on achieving results by consensus.

For over 40 years Ecma has actively contributed to world-wide standardization in information technology and telecommunications. More than 370 [http://www.ecma-international.org/publications/standards/Standard.htm Ecma Standards] and 90 [http://www.ecma-international.org/publications/techreports/techrep.htm Technical Reports] have been published, more than 2/3 of which have also been adopted as international standards and/or technical reports.

The memberlist of Ecma International is available [http://www.ecma-international.org/memento/members.htm here] .

tandards

Ecma International is currently responsible for several standards, including the following:
* CD-ROM volume and filestructure (later known as ISO 9660) [cite web
url=http://www.ecma-international.org/publications/standards/Ecma-119.htm
title=Volume and File Structure of CDROM for Information Interchange
date=December 1987
accessdate=2007-07-13
publisher= Ecma International ]
* C# Language Specification [cite web
title=Standard ECMA-334, C# Language Specification
work=Ecma International
url=http://www.ecma-international.org/publications/standards/ecma-334.htm
accessmonthday=Jun
accessyear=2005]
* C++/CLI Language Specification
* Common Language Infrastructure (CLI) [cite web
title=Standard ECMA-335, Common Language Infrastructure (CLI)
work=Ecma International
url=http://www.ecma-international.org/publications/standards/Ecma-335.htm
accessmonthday=August 31 | accessyear=2005]
* ECMAScript Language Specification (often referred to as JavaScript) [cite web
title=Standard ECMA-262, ECMAScript Language Specification
work=Ecma International
url=http://www.ecma-international.org/publications/standards/ECMA-262.HTM
accessmonthday=December |accessyear=1999 ]
* Eiffel: Analysis, design and programming Language (See Eiffel programming language) [ cite web
title=Standard ECMA-367, Eiffel analysis, design and programming Language
work=Ecma International
url=http://www.ecma-international.org/publications/standards/Ecma-367.htm
accessmonthday=June
accessyear=2005 ]
* Environmental design considerations for electronic products [cite web
title=Standard ECMA-341, Environmental design considerations for electronic products
work=Ecma International
url=http://www.ecma-international.org/publications/standards/Ecma-341.htm
accessmonthday=December
accessyear=2004]
* Universal 3D File Format [cite web
title=Standard ECMA-363, Universal 3D File Format
work=Ecma International
url=http://www.ecma-international.org/publications/standards/Ecma-363.htm
accessmonthday=August
accessyear=2005]
* Ecma Office Open XML

Although Sun Microsystems submitted its Java programming language to Ecma, Sun subsequently withdrew the submission. Thus, Ecma is not responsible for the standardization of Java. [cite web
title=Sun to retain grip on Java
work=Infoworld Electric
url=http://www.javaworld.com/javaworld/jw-12-1999/jw-12-iw-standard2.html
accessmonthday=December 8
accessyear=1999]

Ecma has also been given the responsibility of steering the first international standards for Holographic Versatile Discs, a next-generation high density storage medium capable of holding hundreds of gigabytes through to several terabytes on a CD-sized disk. Ecma expects to submit a proposed standard to the International Organization for Standardization for ISO approval, around December 2006. [cite web
title=Holographic storage standards eyed
work=eeTimes
url=http://www.eetimes.com/news/latest/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=60403531
accessdate=2005-02-28
accessyear=2005] On December 9, 2004 at its 88th General Assembly, Ecma International created Technical Committee 44, dedicated to standarizing HVD formats based on Optware's technology.On June 11, 2007, TC44 published the first two HVD standardscite web|url=http://www.ecma-international.org/news/PressReleases/HVD-R%20Standards.htm|work=Ecma press release|title=Ecma releases new Holographic Information Storage Standards|date=2007-07-04] : ECMA-377cite web|url=http://www.ecma-international.org/publications/standards/Ecma-377.htm|work=ECMA-377|title=Information Interchange on Holographic Versatile Disc (HVD) Recordable Cartridges – Capacity: 200 Gbytes per Cartridge] , defining a 200 GB HVD "recordable cartridge" and ECMA-378cite web|url=http://www.ecma-international.org/publications/standards/Ecma-378.htm|work=ECMA-378|title=Information Interchange on Read-Only Memory Holographic Versatile Disc (HVD-ROM) – Capacity: 100 Gbytes per disk] , defining a 100 GB HVD-ROM disc. Its next stated goals are 30 GB HVD cards and submission of these standards to the International Organization for Standardization for ISO approval.cite web|url=http://www.ecma-international.org/news/TC44_PR_Jan2005.pdf|work=Ecma press release|title=Ecma standardizes Holographic Information Storage|date=2005-01-26]

Office Open XML formats

Ecma is involved in the standardization of the Ecma Office Open XML format based on the XML office document formats by Microsoft. The Ecma Office Open XML maintenance process is currently performed by technical committee 45 ( [http://www.ecma-international.org/memento/TC45.htm TC45] ).

Eco Declaration

In [http://www.ecma-international.org/publications/standards/Ecma-370.htm Ecma International Standard 370] , Ecma joined forces with the Scandinavian [http://www.itecodeclaration.org/ IT Eco Declaration] [ [http://www.itecodeclaration.org/ IT Eco Declaration] ] organisation to put forward a guideline for informing consumers about the environmental practices of the manufacturers of ICT and consumer electronics products.

The IT Eco Declaration includes information on the environmental practices of the manufacturer as well as product features, such as environmentally conscious design, batteries, acoustic noise, electrical safety, energy consumption, chemical emissions, substances and materials included, and packaging. This makes it easy to compare different suppliers and their products, as they all present the environmental features of their products in the same way, through a common industry standard reporting form.

References

ee also

* List of Ecma standards
* European Committee for Standardisation

External links

* [http://www.ecma-international.org/ Ecma International homepage]