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Ecma International (Ecma) is an international, private (membership-based) non-profit standards organization for information and communication systems.1 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.
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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 Ecma Standards and 90 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 here.
Standards
Ecma International is currently responsible for several standards, including the following:
- ECMA-119 – CD-ROM volume and filestructure (later known as ISO 9660)2
- ECMA-262 – ECMAScript Language Specification (often referred to as JavaScript)3
- ECMA-334 – C# Language Specification4
- ECMA-335 – Common Language Infrastructure (CLI)5
- ECMA-341 – Environmental design considerations for electronic products6
- ECMA-363 – Universal 3D File Format7
- ECMA-367 – Eiffel: Analysis, design and programming Language (See Eiffel programming language)8
- ECMA-372 – C++/CLI Language Specification9
- ECMA-376 – Office Open XML (later known as ISO/IEC 29500)
- ECMA-377 – Holographic Versatile Disc (HVD) Recordable Cartridges10
- ECMA-378 – Read-Only Memory Holographic Versatile Disc (HVD-ROM)11
Java programming language
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.12
Holographic Versatile Discs
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 2006.13 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 standards14: ECMA-37715, defining a 200 GB HVD "recordable cartridge" and ECMA-37816, 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.17
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 (TC45).
Eco Declaration
In Ecma International Standard 370, Ecma joined forces with the Scandinavian IT Eco Declaration18 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
- ^ Ecma By-laws
- ^ "Volume and File Structure of CDROM for Information Interchange". Ecma International (December 1987). Retrieved on 2007-07-13.
- ^ "Standard ECMA-262, ECMAScript Language Specification". Ecma International. Retrieved on December, 1999.
- ^ "Standard ECMA-334, C# Language Specification". Ecma International. Retrieved on June, 2005.
- ^ "Standard ECMA-335, Common Language Infrastructure (CLI)". Ecma International. Retrieved on August 31, 2005.
- ^ "Standard ECMA-341, Environmental design considerations for electronic products". Ecma International. Retrieved on December, 2004.
- ^ "Standard ECMA-363, Universal 3D File Format". Ecma International. Retrieved on August, 2005.
- ^ "Standard ECMA-367, Eiffel analysis, design and programming Language". Ecma International. Retrieved on June, 2005.
- ^ http://www.ecma-international.org/publications/standards/Ecma-372.htm
- ^ http://www.ecma-international.org/publications/standards/Ecma-377.htm
- ^ http://www.ecma-international.org/publications/standards/Ecma-378.htm
- ^ "Sun to retain grip on Java". Infoworld Electric. Retrieved on December 8, 1999.
- ^ "Holographic storage standards eyed". eeTimes. Retrieved on 2005-02-28, 2005.
- ^ "Ecma releases new Holographic Information Storage Standards". Ecma press release (2007-07-04).
- ^ "Information Interchange on Holographic Versatile Disc (HVD) Recordable Cartridges – Capacity: 200 Gbytes per Cartridge". ECMA-377.
- ^ "Information Interchange on Read-Only Memory Holographic Versatile Disc (HVD-ROM) – Capacity: 100 Gbytes per disk". ECMA-378.
- ^ "Ecma standardizes Holographic Information Storage" (PDF). Ecma press release (2005-01-26).
- ^ IT Eco Declaration
See also
External links
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