This would drive the issues on HDTV, the relationship of the Internet to the NII and the question of interoperability at various interfaces. TPWG may be the right vehicle to hold a workshop on the services layer. A second workshop area is scalability in both hardware and software networking technology. A definition on what bounds are included in scalability may be useful. The services architecture with emphasis on interoperability and connectivity should be addressed.
Interoperability implies standards, be they voluntary or nonvoluntary.
NIST and the IITF groups dealing with standards need to be involved. If the NII is to focus on supporting multiple applications, common services and interfaces are essential. For example, Z39.50 is a standard interface for text retrieval that should be considered. ARPA has been successful in setting de facto standards by funding key developers. With the rapid changing technology base, addressing how we go about setting standards is an important issue, as the current process takes too long to be effective.