Standard adoption in converging technologies: The interplay between network and system

Abstract

Most literature on standards selection focuses on compatibility standards for single products or large but single systems that are developing, such as the Internet or a telecommunications network. In this paper we focus on systems that connect multiple already existing subsystems and new subsystems to form a new complex system. We show that in complex systems characteristics of the networks of actors that are supporting the different competing standards play an important role in the becoming dominant of the standards.