How IHS Manages 1 Million Standards Documents

IHS is an industry-leading single-source standards supplier for over 1 million standards documents, bringing together critical standards information for engineering related industries such as:

• automotive
• construction
• energy
• aerospace and defense
• electronics and telecom

By acting as a centralized access point to such a wealth of information for companies in over 100 countries, IHS not only provides easy search and research tools that lower procurement costs and boost ROI, but also benefits such as those outlined below.

Intellectual Rights, Updating and Accuracy

The 1 million standards documents IHS manages are created by many different Standards Developing Organizations (SDOs), all with different copyright agreements and licenses. IHS is in the unique position of being committed to protecting the intellectual rights of SDOs while also protecting standards users from copyright infringement and prosecution.

IHS works to create a win-win standards copyright environment by:

• providing certainty of access to legal copies of standards documents
• simplifying and clarifying the process of understanding licensing agreements and copyright terms across standards and SDOs
• enforcing licensing agreements and copyright law to ensure the ongoing innovation and viability of the standards industry

The proliferation of downloadable standards offered online often leaves a company at risk of using illegal standards copies or copyright infringement. With IHS as your standards provider, you not only have an easy-to-use centralized access point for all your standards, you also have the confidence of using legal standards that are neither out of date nor altered in any way.

Furthermore, IHS offers protection from copyright violation through systematic licensing notification and access restrictions across SDOs and the 1 million standards documents it distributes. These extra measures provide friendly automated reminders of how far your standards rights extend, and can include:

• licensing overviews (at time of purchase or lease)
• licensing agreements (appear on the standard's first online access screen)
• online reference notices (reiterate copyright use restrictions)
• locking technology (restricts usage, e.g., view but not print)
• auto-inserting document-specific footers on printable documents to outline copyright ownership and licensing information
• auto-display of upgrade information where user's license or subscription does not allow for an intended action (e.g., making multiple reproductions)

IHS deals with the different SDOs involved to provide a more consistent and standardized experience for standards users when it comes to copyright awareness across its 1 million documents.

Strength of Relationships and On-Demand Sourcing

IHS works with over 370 Standards Developing Organizations, tier-1 manufacturers, and government agencies worldwide to give users access to both the latest standards and historical standards.

The IHS Military product line alone offers over 81,000 active and 321,000 historical military documents across such a range of databases as:

• Active Mil Spec Products
• Department of Defense (DoD) Directives
• Historical MilSpecs
• JTA Referenced Standards
• Optional Standardization Databases

Standards users benefit from the relationships IHS has built over the years with SDOs by being able to access all the standards they need from a single online location.

Despite the breadth of vital documentation already available through IHS, there are still cases where a standards user needs information that is not currently in the IHS portfolio. In such cases, standards users can again benefit from the relationships IHS has developed with SDOs by placing a request for on-demand sourcing. IHS will promptly work on securing either the specific document in question, or another document that is determined of equal informational merit.

Secure Transactions and Access Security

When you have found one or more of the 1 million IHS standards documents you need, IHS ensures you both receive and use those documents in a secure fashion.

While purchasing items over the Internet is more common today than ever, IHS still takes care to protect all your transaction details through industry standard encryption on its online order pages.

As a subscriber to an IHS standards service, you enjoy the security of a password-protected login area. Having successfully entered your company's unique information, you then have exclusive 24/7 Web-based access to the services you have subscribed to, regardless of where you are located physically.

IHS Standards Solutions

With over 1 million standards available, IHS brings together in one location all the standards your company needs, making it easier than ever to search, research, procure and track current and historic standards. By centralizing and standardizing your world of standards, you can increase your ROI by decreasing the time and costs associated with standards procurement while benefiting from copyright infringement measures and the latest accurate information in a secure environment.