NCITS Approves Establishment of NCITS V2 - Information Technology Access Interfaces
National Committee for Information Technology Standards (NCITS)
NCITS Secretariat, Information Technology Industry Council (ITIC)
1250 Eye St. NW, Suite 200, Washington, DC 20005
Telephone 202-737-8888; Fax 202-638-4922;
Email: ncits@itic.org
Date: August 31, 2000
NCITS, the National Committee for Information Technology Standards, (http://www.ncits.org/) announces the establishment of a new technical committee, V2 - Information Technology Access Interfaces.
The new committee will address alternate interface access protocols in response to new government regulations and is aimed at ensuring that people with disabilities have access to electronic and information technology.
The U. S. Access Board published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on Standards for Electronic and Information Technology implementing amendments to Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act. The amendment will use the Federal procurement process to ensure that technology acquired by the Federal government is accessible. The final standards, which will become part of the Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR), will be used by government agencies to determine whether or not a technology product or system is accessible.
The first project of the technical committee will be to develop standards for an Alternative Interface Access Protocol (AIAP). This communication protocol would compliment and build on industry activity in home networking, wireless networking, and metadata registries for discovery and interoperation of intelligent devices.
The Alternative Interface Access Protocol and related standards will ensure IT products are more accommodating of the needs and preferences of the consumer by allowing for alternative interfaces. While addressing the special needs of people with disabilities, the option to change interfaces will have a broader market application.
The first organizational meeting will be convened by Mr. William LaPlant, (Bill.LaPlant@Census.GOV) in Washington, DC, on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, October 11 to 13, 2000, from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. The 3-day meeting will be held at ITIC, 1250 I Street, NW, Suite 200, Washington, DC, 20005 in Conference Rooms 1 and 2.
The National Committee for Information Technology Standards is an ANSI Accredited Committee, which develops American National Standards for Information Technology.
NCITS's mission is to produce market-driven, voluntary consensus standards in the areas of:
For more information on the committee, please visit the NCITS V2 Website at http://www.ncits.org/tc_home/v2.htm. For information on membership in NCITS/V2, contact Bill LaPlant (phone: 301-457-4887 or email: Bill.LaPlant@census.gov). For information on NCITS membership, contact Kate McMillan (phone: 202-626-5742 or email: kmcmillan@itic.org).