The International Telecommunications Union (ITU), an attached body of the UN, has launched the ?ICT product conformity database? to provide industry with a means to publicize the conformance of ICT products and services with ITU?s international standards.
E-Health products covering 23 classes of technology have been volunteered for inclusion in the database at its launch, with the intention of assisting buyers in their efforts to select standards-compliant products.
The new database showcases ICT products and services found to comply with ITU standards by conformance tests carried out by third-party test labs.
The e-Health devices populating the database were tested for compliance with the specifications of Recommendation ITU-T H.810 ?Interoperability design guidelines for personal health systems?, a key standard approved in December 2013, which contains the Continua Design Guidelines.
The recently issued Continua 2014 Design Guidelines are adopted to ITU specifications and feature interface between personal area network (PAN), local area network (LAN), and touch area network (TAN) health devices and application hosting devices (AHDs) including NFC (near-field communication), USB and Bluetooth Smart Technology (Low Energy); and consent enforcement via wide area network (WAN) and Health Record Network (HRN) health devices.
?ITU and the World Health Organization (WHO) have been collaborating closely on e-Health, and it is very encouraging to see the e-Health industry taking the lead in submitting its products for inclusion in ITU?s conformity product database,? said ITU secretary-general Hamadoun I. Tour?.
?This data will be of great value in improving interoperability, which we know to be absolutely critical in the e-health sphere.?
Rob Havasy, Continua executive director and vice president of the Personal Connected Health Alliance (PCHA): “Interoperability driven by open standards in mobile and personal connected health solutions, along with machine-to-machine communications, will be a key enabler for the e-Health market, which is expected to grow exponentially in coming years.?
?With the support of ITU membership, we have developed a market-driven conformity and interoperability program which will be of particular benefit to developing countries,? said Malcolm Johnson, director of ITU Telecommunication Standardization Bureau.
?It is a long-term program, which will have a positive impact on public health worldwide.?
The test suites employed in testing the conformance of e-Health products with ITU-T H.810 were developed by Continua and will be published as 32 standards in the ITU-T H.821-H.850 series.
The standards provide conformance-testing regimes, including over 1000 test cases, for the functions implemented by personal health devices, such as thermometers, blood pressure meters and pulse meters.
They also test the conformance of gateways that consolidate measurements from various devices and transmit such records to health-record databases.
Conformance with international standards is one of the core principles underlying the global interoperability of ICT networks and devices.
The new ITU conformity product database forms part of the ITU Conformity and Interoperability (C&I) Program initiated at the request of ITU?s membership in light of the challenges faced by developing countries in improving interoperability.
