“The history of civilization from hunter-gatherer, agrarian, city states, manufacturing, information age, to the internet age may be identified by the successions of technical references/standards that are developed—symbols, measurements, plans, similarity, compatibility, and adaptability.

Each new succession results in a paradigm change, enabling increased value creation: bartering, counting and measuring, building, manufacturing, networks, and openness. Standards successions offer an evolutionary technology model, showing why and how market control occurs and where new value is created. By extension this evolutionary model also suggests ideas for the future.

Ken Krechmer is a former SF Bay Area board member and global standards expert. Ken Krechmer started his technical career working as an engineer for several electronics companies in the 1960s and 1970s. After founding one electronics company and working in sales and marketing for three others, he began standards consulting in 1980.

He participated in the development of the International Telecommunications Union Recommendations for Group 3 facsimile (T.30), data modems (V.8, V.8bis, V.32, V.32bis, V.34, V.90), and Digital Subscriber Line transceivers (G.994.1) as well as the related US national standards. Read an important paper on this topic, authored by the speaker, here.

Update 6-14-2021: you can find the video of this webinar below: