Standards have had a profound impact on the evolution of networking. TCP/IP, BGP, HTTP, SMTP — all of these have enabled the creation of the Internet, content hyperlinking, and personal communication. In recent years, it seems standards have had a diminishing impact, specifically when created by a diverse group of industry players. Due to a maze of conflicting commercial interests and protection of market positions, standards take forever to form, and often fall short on accelerating the markets they aim to serve.
