When you bring up data standards to the average Commercial Real Estate professional there's a good chance you will see rolling eyes or stifled yawns. The street broker, ordinary appraiser, unsophisticated asset manager, day-to-day property manager and, for that matter, the industry software and data providers, will tell you first that it's just not that important and second, it's never going to happen.

In all fairness, they have a right to be indifferent. Standardization, after all, is hard work. Some would suggest the topic is boring and, after years of work, no tangible benefits have been produced. Students of evolving standards would tell you that the early years are the hardest and produce the least results. Those same experts will tell you it is just part of the process and that inevitably every industry will need to adhere to standards, whether physical or electronic, if it expects to grow and achieve a higher level of sophistication. Just imagine building a house with a 2 by 5, or an automobile with 48-inch tires, or doing a stock transaction where no data standards had been established.

We believe that the Commercial Real Estate industry is at that proverbial "tipping point" when it comes to data standards. Much work has gone on by groups such as the Data Consortium, the Appraisal Institute, the National Multi-Housing Council and others in the creation of standards, which will ultimately lead to seamless, efficient transfer of data that can ultimately lead to electronic, paperless transactions. (If you don't believe this is possible, we suggest a trip to London for conversations and demonstrations with PISCES and British Land -- their integrated electronic transaction methodology could, in fact, be 5-7 years ahead of the United States.)

In the Commercial Real Estate industry, OSCRE - Open Standards Consortium for Real Estate, has emerged as the leader in the standards initiative. Their progress over the last 9 months has been nothing short of phenomenal. Where there were once 10-16 different conversations going on around the industry, there now seems to be a real sense of consolidation, collaboration and cooperation centered around the OSCRE efforts. We applaud and continue to support the efforts of this very important initiative. The following represent the recent highlights of the OSCRE organization:

• National Institute of Building Sciences (NIBS) and OSCRE have signed an MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) to work on joint projects
• General Services Administration (GSA) and OSCRE are collaborating in support of White House Executive Order 13327 to help influence Real Property Standards in the Federal Government
• National Association of Realtors (NAR) has joined OSCRE - Initiating efforts to develop standards and methodologies to link CIE - Commercial Information Exchanges
• National Multi-Housing Council (NMHC) and OSCRE are working on a draft MOU to collaborate on shared goals and initiatives
• International Alliance for Interoperability (IAI) and OSCRE are exploring ways to extract information from 3D Building Information Models (BIM) for automating cost segregation and accelerated depreciation processes
• BOMA International has agreed to join OSCRE and work together in support of common goals and objectives in 2005
• OSCRE has built working relationships with US and International organizations covering the entire spectrum of the real estate industry
• OSCRE is known for moving at Internet speed as an organization, including gaining broad industry acceptance as the leading force for standards development
• Solid Methodology in Place. Two years of R&D has come to a head with a very robust standards development approach modeled on the best examples in other industries and years of PISCES experience in the UK
• Highly professional program management team with full time program lead and ability to leverage depth and industry strengths of firms like Deloitte Consulting, who has made a commitment to support OSCRE's working teams
• Harnessed the Voice of the Owner. Key to adoption of standards will be the support of the owners and investors, such as major corporations and institutional owners (pension funds and REITs). CoreNet Global, representing the corporations, and NCREIF/PREA in the investment arena, are strong supporters of OSCRE and have committed to helping OSCRE as it rolls out standards
• The Valuation Community is a Key Participant. OSCRE is working closely with the Appraisal Institute in the US and the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors around the rest of the world. Both have significant programs in standardizing valuation data and methods that will dramatically affect many areas of the real estate industry, such as mortgage underwriting, investments, and development

Industry wide data standards will benefit all! This is why Realcomm will take an active role in raising sponsorship dollars for the support of OSCRE. As the industry conference dealing with the topic of automation, business solutions and intelligent buildings, we believe Realcomm can play a positive role in the support of OSCRE. In the coming weeks, we will be reaching out to our partners in both the Commercial Real Estate and technology communities to urge their financial and intellectual support of this very important organization. In the meantime, anyone interested in learning more about or supporting OSCRE should visit www.oscre.org