scope:

Foreword

The information contained in this Foreword is not part of this American National Standard (ANS) and has not been processed in accordance with the American National Standards Institute's (ANSI) requirements for an ANS. As such, this Foreword may contain material that has not been subjected to public review or a consensus process. In addition, it does not contain requirements necessary for conformance to the Standard.

The Alliance for Telecommunication Industry Solutions (ATIS) serves the public through improved understanding between providers, customers, and manufacturers. The Sustainability in Telecom: Energy and Protection (STEP) Committee - formerly the Network Interface, Power, and Protection Committee (NIPP) - engages industry expertise to develop standards and technical reports for telecommunications equipment and environments in the areas of energy efficiency, environmental impacts, power, and protection. The work products of STEP enable vendors, operators, and their customers to deploy and operate reliable, environmentally sustainable, energy efficient communications technologies. STEP is committed to proactive engagement with national, regional, and international standards development organizations and forums that share its scope of work.

ANSI guidelines specify two categories of requirements: mandatory and recommendation. The mandatory requirements are designated by the word shall and recommendations by the word should. Where both a mandatory requirement and a recommendation are specified for the same criterion, the recommendation represents a goal currently identifiable as having distinct compatibility or performance advantages.