Standards are specified by a large number of formal and informal organizations. This can lead to problems with competing standards for the same technology area. This is especially true in emerging technologies. Vendor alliances are formed with the hope of setting a de facto, if not actual, standard in the hope of closing the market to competing vendors. Some standards are never formalized but become de facto standards due to market dominance of a particular product or service.
Standards allow different products from different vendors to interact.
This level of interaction may vary from an interface between products to true product integration. The level of specificity of standards varies greatly from standard to standard. Some standards will have very detailed technical specifications while others will be much broader and more general. Standards for the definition and use of data are another important type of standard. These standards are even more important in a large complex environment such as the Commonwealth.