Voluntary Standards Cover the Spectrum: from Pool and Spa Efficiency to Identity Management

In an effort to communicate the vital role that standards play in daily life, the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) publishes a series of snapshots of the diverse standards initiatives undertaken in the global and national standards arena, many of which are performed by ANSI members and ANSI-accredited standards developers. Two of the latest selections follow:

Pool and Spa Efficiency
According to the Association of Pool & Spa Professionals (APSP), there are nearly 10.6 million residential swimming pools and more than 7.4 million hot tubs (also called spas) in the United States. These pools and spas are used for exercise, therapy, and relaxation, but they can have a significant impact on energy consumption and related costs. In an effort to save consumers money and ensure American pools and spas are energy efficient, APSP recently published ANSI/APSP/ICC-15a 2013, American National Standard for Residential Swimming Pool and Spa Energy Efficiency.

The American National Standard (ANS) covers energy efficiency requirements for permanently installed residential above-ground, on-ground, and in-ground swimming pools and in-ground spas operated by the property owner and used for bathing. ANSI/APSP/ICC-15a 2013 is intended to cover certain aspects of the swimming pool filtration system's design, pump, heaters, installation, and operational capabilities for the purpose of minimizing energy consumption while maintaining water quality and temperature.

APSP, an ANSI-accredited standards developer and member, is a non-profit membership association representing swimming pool, spa, and hot tub manufacturers and related organizations and professionals. ASPS is dedicated to promoting the enjoyment and safety of pools and spas through standards development, education and certification, advancing legislation and regulation, consumer outreach.

Identity Management
Identify management (IdM) encompasses establishing and managing the roles and access privileges of individual users within an organization, company, or network. IdM functions and capabilities are used to safeguard identity information and enhance business and security applications through password-management tools, provisioning software, security-policy enforcement, reporting and monitoring applications, and identity repositories.

To help IT professionals manage IdM technologies, capabilities, and software suites, the Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS), an ANSI accredited standards developer and member, recently released ATIS-1000045.2012, ATIS Identity Management: Mechanisms and Procedures Standard. The new ANS describes the specific IdM mechanisms and suites of options that should be used to meet the requirements defined in ATIS-1000044.2011, ATIS Identity Management: Requirements and Use Cases Standard, where IdM example use cases and Next Generation Network (NGN) requirements and interfaces are provided. ATIS-1000045.2012 also provides best practices and guidelines to support interoperability and other needs.

ATIS works to develop ANS, specifications, guidelines requirements, technical reports, industry processes, and verification tests that support industry-wide interoperability and reliability of telecommunications networks, equipment, and software. Through information communications technology innovations, ATIS's efforts underpin the nation's emergency communications system, improve data access, support health care delivery, and develop new avenues to interactive sources of entertainment.