List and describe three advantages of standards for wireless technology.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Interoperability. Standards ensure that devices from one vendor will function with those from other vendors. Devices that are not based on standards often cannot interoperate with similar devices from other vendors.
Competition. Standards serve to create competition. If a vendor creates a new device without regard to current standards, then it automatically owns the specifications for the device; the vendor might even take out a patent on the device. This makes it virtually impossible for another vendor to produce the same device; thus, competition among multiple vendors selling the same device is impossible. From the point of view of the consumer, standards are desirable because they encourage competition. Any vendor
can create a device based on a recognized standard. In order to compete, vendors will add additional features to their products, thus increasing the overall value for users.
Lower costs. Competition results in lower costs for both users and manufacturers.  When several vendors make similar products based on the same standards, they compete against each other on the price, which in turn makes the product less expensive for users. Competition also results in lower costs for manufacturers. Because standards have been established, manufacturers do not need to invest large amounts of capital in research and development. This reduces start-up costs as well as the amount of time required to bring a product to market. Also, manufacturing to standards encourages manufacturers to deploy mass-production techniques and economies of scale to keep production costs low, with savings that in turn are passed on to users.
Protection. Standards help protect the user's investment in equipment. It is not uncommon for a proprietary vendor to phase out a product line, leaving a business that purchased the equipment with two choices: continue to use the now-obsolete system with escalating costs for supplies and technical support, or discard the legacy system and buy a new system. Both choices are costly. Standards, however, can help create a migration path for equipment upgrades. Newer standards are generally backward compatible or at least provide a means of migrating to equipment based on the newer standards at a minimal cost.