oneM2M specifications approved by more than 190 ITU member countries

More than 190 ITU-T member countries have approved oneM2M specifications as ITU standard, simplifying the IoT ecosystem lifecycle by minimising development, deployment, and maintenance costs.

The ITU-T's SG20 Internet of Things (IoT) and smart cities and communities (SC&C) approved oneM2M’s security specifications for IoT systems as part of the ITU-T Y.4500.3 series, making the entire suite of oneM2M specifications available for use nationally by ITU -T member states.

oneM2M is an open set of specifications that define a common set of horizontal IoT service functions, to enable secure data exchange and information interoperability across different vertical sectors, service providers and use cases. The standardised APIs future proof the IoT ecosystem by reducing costs and enable interworking with existing IoT technologies. oneM2M standards provide an interoperability testing framework and support a global certification program by the Global Certification Forum (GCF) for oneM2M based products.

With this latest milestone, the ITU-T has further added IoT security capabilities to its Recommendations of the M2M common service layer, built on middleware concepts, standardised by oneM2M. The approval happened over a multi-step process involving interactive discussions between ITU-T members and oneM2M experts.

Roland Hechwartner of Deutsche Telekom and the Technical Plenary Chairman of oneM2M said: “Security-related capabilities are an essential and complementary component in all IoT systems. oneM2M treats security as a common service function that can be applied in the same way across many applications in different verticals. It also emphasises the use of open standards so that service providers can control all entities and services in their deployments without relying on a single company or proprietary set of technologies.”

Since its inception in 1865, the ITU-T’s contribution-led, consensus-based approach to standards development allows countries and companies, no matter how large or small, to exercise equal rights in the development of ITU-T Recommendations. Through its Study Group 20 (SG 20), ITU-T participants provide commonly agreed guidance for implementing the Internet of Things (IoT) and its applications, as well as smart cities and communities.

Ms. Rana Kamill of British Telecom, who is the ITU-T WP1/20 Vice Chair and has been leading oneM2M’s collaboration with the ITU-T, commented that, “the rapport between the ITU-T and oneM2M benefitted from international and oneM2M experts working in close collaboration to deliver common IoT standards and security that benefit the widest community.” She noted that the oneM2M Security Solutions document went through the ITU-T’s Typical Approval Process (TAP). This is the default method for international standards (Recommendations) with regulatory or policy implications (e.g., numbering plans and tariffs). It has also been translated into the ITU’s 6 official languages (English, Arabic, Chinese, French, Spanish and Russian).

The full set of oneM2M’s specifications, approved as the ITU-T Recommendation Y-4500 series, is available at https://www.itu.int/md/T22-SG20-R-0003/en.