FAQs
Common Misconceptions & Misnomers
There are a lot of questions and common misconceptions about MIBs and what it means to free them. We’ve done our best to address those items here.
Have a question that you don’t see answered? Or have an answer you’d like posted? Let us know!
Isn’t sharing MIBs giving away a company’s trade secrets?
Absolutely not! Companies work hard to develop unique solutions and approaches to solving today’s transportation problems, and sharing their manufacturer-specific MIBs does nothing to limit or impede that innovation. In fact, quite the opposite. It opens the door for those solutions to be available to more people by removing the limitations set forth by closed, restrictive access to MIBs.
Remember, MIBs simply tell controllers what to do (e.g. turn red, turn green). They do not divulge “secret information” about the object’s operational logic, description of the operation, nor how the object interacts with other objects within the controller
Sharing MIBs will be bad for the Industry and goes beyond the original intent of NTCIP.
This is a common misconception. The reality is that many ITS vendors – digital message signs, electrical and camera companies – have long shared their MIBs and those industry verticals are thriving.
Sharing MIBs will make us more vulnerable to larger tech companies.
Quite the opposite actually. Continuity within the traffic signal control market vertical will make large tech companies less likely to try to conquer us and more likely to try to partner with us to create the best products.
It also gives our industry and manufacturers a greater voice in the tech conversation.
NTCIP specifically uses the word “proprietary” because they intended companies to restrict access to private MIBs.
False! Look at these statements from the NTCIP website:
The entire purpose of the NTCIP group of standards is to “[allow] traffic control systems to be built using a ‘mix and match’ approach with equipment from different manufacturers.”
The standards were intended to “reduce the need for reliance on specific equipment vendors and customized one-of-a-kind software.”
Why not just wait for NTCIP v3?
It’s already too late. We’ve already lost the continuity of programming between manufacturers. Depending on the latest version of NTCIP would also mean that most manufacturers would have to rebuild their software from the ground up. The logic that makes a controller work would have to be recreated to link to these newer, specific objects. This would delay innovation and boost costs - the exact opposite of the #FREEtheMIBS mission.
Why would a company not share their MIBs?
Excellent question! Since the launch of the campaign, we’ve heard a lot of false claims about why vendors withhold their specific MIBs, namely safety, security, and litigation. However, we’ve only heard one justification that we understand — the desire to hold a monopoly on certain markets by limiting competition.
These types of archaic and restrictive business strategies aim to create a closed-market that limits an agencies ability to select from all available solutions.
Restricting MIBs…
Prevents device interoperability
Locks agencies into single-vendor solutions
Enables price gauging
Hampers innovation
Allows vendors to profit from restrictive license agreements
License agreements exist between companies permitting Company A to integrate MIBs from Company B. Generally, these agreements include stipulations for release of liability, IP, and distribution of updates. Once integrated, Company A may sell their product that works with Company B’s product to any customer.
Restrictive license agreements do the same as above, but are customer or project specific. Accordingly, once Company A has integrated Company B’s product (a task that may even be paid for by the customer), Company A cannot use or even advertise that integration with any other customer. Why?
Generally, because Company B wants to maintain vendor lock-in or charge additional customers for further integration work. But, if you already proved the solution works somewhere, why restrict it somewhere else? Again, we believe the only legitimate answer is purely monetary.
Won’t giving away MIBs make devices more vulnerable to hacking and cybercrime?
False. The reality is that:
NTCIP standards themselves are not inherently secure. It’s a serial-based protocol that can be be easily sniffed and manipulated.
Manufacturer-specific MIBs are not secure and can be reverse engineered.
To be more secure, we must follow the lead of other industries, like retail and financial institutions, and use current data transport and communications technologies.
Giving away MIBs is illegal.
When we first heard this one, we must admit, we LOL’d. This is simply untrue, there is nothing illegal about sharing MIBs.
In fact, it is not unheard of for agencies to entice or even pay for MIBs to be shared between manufacturers through an RFP process. The unfortunate thing is that this is often done through restrictive agreements that limit a manufacturer’s ability to deliver the same solution to another agency interested in the same solution.
How did #FREEtheMIBS get started?
The movement began when leaders at Intelight, a Q-Free Brand, recognizing the need for open standards in transportation, took the unprecedented step of freeing their MIBs.
It was a pretty bold step. No more frustrated agencies imprisoned by systems with proprietary MIBs, no more limitations on Smart City innovations because of interoperability issues.
But here’s the rub. Pretty quickly, those same leaders realized the issue was bigger than one company; that agencies and organizations interested in the future of transportation were clamoring for open standards... for freed MIBs. So #FREEtheMIBS was born – an advocacy campaign outside of the company with its own colors, its own look, its own brand.
The campaign is independent, collaborative, and essential to the future of a connected and innovative transportation system. #FREEtheMIBS is already gaining traction and will continue to recruit like-minded advocates – agencies, associations, vendors, and individuals – to join the campaign and lend their voices to the cause. Ultimately, we believe this collaboration will change the landscape.