PISCATAWAY, N.J., USA 8 October 2012 – The IEEE Industry Standards and Technology Organization (IEEE-ISTO) today introduces the TALQ Consortium as the newest member in its federation of leading industry special interest groups (SIGs) and consortia dedicated to promulgating standardized technologies for the benefit of industry.

The landscape of outdoor lighting today is characterized by a diversity of proprietary systems and interfaces lacking standardization which makes it difficult for industry to integrate, operate and maintain central management systems. To enhance the growth of outdoor lighting networks, the TALQ Consortium aims to deliver, promote, and govern a well-defined software protocol specification for the interface between central management systems and outdoor lighting networks, and a corresponding certification and compliance program.

The outdoor lighting network interface specification aims to set a globally-accepted standard for management software interfaces to control, monitor and provide for interoperability among heterogeneous outdoor lighting networks. The software protocol can be implemented in different devices used in outdoor lighting systems, and will employ a common command language.

“We have seen other lighting industry groups, such as Zhaga Consortium, thrive within the IEEE-ISTO federation,” said Marco W. Migliaro, CEO and president, IEEE-ISTO.   “We believe TALQ will enjoy similar success working with us.”

Founding members of TALQ consortium include: Harvard Engineering, Kingsun, Philips, Schréder, Streetlight.Vision and Thorn/Zumtobel.  Organizations interested in joining TALQ Consortium, and contributing to the development of the TALQ standard can find all relevant membership information at www.talq-consortium.org.

“The standardization of a single interface protocol to manage various proprietary network implementations in the outdoor lighting marketplace will help in removing interoperability impediments that constrain market growth,” said Gerard Lokhoff, secretary general, TALQ Consortium.  “By forming under IEEE-ISTO’s legal infrastructure, we have been able to quickly initiate our technical work to achieve our goals.”

Since its inception in 1999, IEEE-ISTO has partnered with 40+ industry groups like the TALQ Consortium, providing the legal and operational frameworks and best practices required to accomplish technical missions quickly, cost-effectively and with success.

About IEEE-ISTO

IEEE-ISTO is the premier trusted partner of the global technology community for the development, adoption, and certification of industry standards. A federation of member programs, its mission is to facilitate the life-cycle of industry standards development through a dedicated staff committed to offering vendor neutrality, quality support and member satisfaction. IEEE-ISTO Programs span the spectrum of today’s information and communications technologies. IEEE-ISTO is the recipient of the 2010 Tenzing Norgay Interoperability Achievement Award which recognizes success in driving market acceptance, adoption and implementation of standardized technologies. For more information, visit ieee-isto.org.