INCITS

INCITS, the InterNational Committee for Information Technology Standards, is the United States’ ANSI-accredited standards development organization for information technology. It coordinates the development and maintenance of voluntary, consensus-based IT standards in the United States and serves as a forum for industry, government, and academia to address interoperability, data exchange, and system reliability.

Structure and governance: INCITS comprises member organizations and individual participants who contribute through technical committees and working groups. It is administered under ANSI and guided by a board of directors, with a professional secretariat facilitating meetings, documentation, and ballot activities.

Standards development process: Proposals are reviewed by participating constituencies. Working groups draft specifications, which undergo public review and formal ballot. Approved standards become INCITS standards and may be designated as U.S. national standards or forwarded to international bodies for consideration as ISO/IEC standards.

International and cross-border activity: INCITS maintains liaison relationships with ISO/IEC JTC1 and other international and regional standards organizations to harmonize IT standards and to contribute U.S. expertise to global standardization efforts.

Scope and impact: The organization’s activities cover a broad array of IT domains, including data formats and interchange, information security, biometrics, networking, and interoperability. INCITS standards influence products, services, and government procurement in the United States.