Operating on the premise that too many software standards can be as harmful as no standards, the NIST (Gaithersburg, Md.) conference will focus on developing specs that allow software to communicate across different formats. Incompatible standards, NIST officials said, often have the same effect as proprietary software: impeding data exchange among researchers.

The conference, March 13-17, will focus on: XML standards used to exchange supply chain data; open information and communications technology standards used for manufacturing and health care records management; and sensor standards.

Kang Lee, a senior researcher at NIST, will lead the March 14 seminar on harmonizing sensor standards. A plenary session on the same day will include Karla Norsworthy, IBM's vice president of software standards.