 communications. 1959 The CCIF and the CCITT were combined and became known simply as the CCITT, now called the ITU-T. The second major standards body is the America National Standards Institute (ANSI; www.ansi.org), whose recommendations are followed throughout North America and in some Asian countries. The third major body is the Telecommunications Technology Committee (TTC; http://inetserv.ttc.or.jp/e/), whose recommendations are followed in Japan. ISOC has an agreement to work with the ITU to ensure that developments do not take place separately in evolving the PSTN versus the Internet. These organiza- tions are working toward converging networks on the same sets of requirements and functions. In order to make room for the many-often conflicting-interests, the interna- tional standards-making organizations concentrate on producing base standards. These base standards contain allowable variants or options, which are defined by the implementer. By adopting any of the variants or options, the implementer com- plies with the standard, but there is no guarantee that the equipment will interop- Political and Regulatory Forces in Telecommunications erate with the equipment of other vendors. This problem of interoperability internetworking is addressed by regional and national standards bodies, often involving trade organizations and user groups. These groups adapt the interna- tional base standards as functional standards, which contain a limited number of agreed-upon allowable options. These groups also develop test specifications and methods, and independent test houses then perform the necessary conformance test- ing and certify products that meet the requirements. (See Figures 1.20 and 1.21.) Table 1.2 lists some of the key standards organizations throughout the world. International Country Country Country Country Country National Industry Industry Industry Industry Industry Trade Groups Associations Figure 1.20 Standards-making groups International Standards Bodies Standards Regional Standards Trade Bodies Asso