Cory is correct.
Excerpted from
Introduction
Why standards matter
Who ISO is
What ISO's name means
How it all started
What 'international standardization' means
How ISO standards benefit society
The hallmarks of the ISO brand
ISO and world trade
ISO and developing countries
How to recognize an ISO standard
The big, wide world of ISO standards
What makes ISO 9000 and ISO 14000 so special
What makes conformity assessment so important
Where to find information on standards
Who can join ISO
How the ISO system is managed
How the ISO system is financed
How ISO decides what standards to develop
Who develops ISO standards
How ISO standards are developed
When speed is of the essence
ISO's international partners
ISO's regional partners
Specialist liaisons
Special products
Why standards matter
What if standards did not exist?
If there were no standards, we would soon notice. Standards make an enormous contribution to most aspects of our lives - although very often, that contribution is invisible. It is when there is an absence of standards that their importance is brought home. For example, as purchasers or users of products, we soon notice when they turn out to be of poor quality, do not fit, are incompatible with equipment we already have, are unreliable or dangerous. When products meet our expectations, we tend to take this for granted. We are usually unaware of the role played by standards in raising levels of quality, safety, reliability, efficiency and interchangeability - as well as in providing such benefits at an economical cost.
ISO (International Organization for Standardization) is the world's largest developer of standards. Although ISO's principal activity is the development of technical standards, ISO standards also have important economic and social repercussions. ISO standards make a positive difference, not just to engineers and manufacturers for whom they solve basic problems in production and distribution, but to society as a whole.
The International Standards which ISO develops are very useful. They are useful to industrial and business organizations of all types, to governments and other regulatory bodies, to trade officials, to conformity assessment professionals, to suppliers and customers of products and services in both public and private sectors, and, ultimately, to people in general in their roles as consumers and end users.
ISO standards contribute to making the development, manufacturing and supply of products and services more efficient, safer and cleaner. They make trade between countries easier and fairer. They provide governments with a technical base for health, safety and environmental legislation. They aid in transferring technology to developing countries. ISO standards also serve to safeguard consumers, and users in general, of products and services - as well as to make their lives simpler.
When things go well - for example, when systems, machinery and devices work well and safely - then often it is because they conform to standards. And the organization responsible for many thousands of the standards which benefit society worldwide is ISO.
Who ISO is
ISO is a network of the national standards institutes of 147 countries, on the basis of one member per country, with a Central Secretariat in Geneva, Switzerland, that coordinates the system.
ISO is a non-governmental organization: its members are not, as is the case in the United Nations system, delegations of national governments. Nevertheless, ISO occupies a special position between the public and private sectors. This is because, on the one hand, many of its member institutes are part of the governmental structure of their countries, or are mandated by their government. On the other hand, other members have their roots uniquely in the private sector, having been set up by national partnerships of industry associations.
Therefore, ISO is able to act as a bridging organization in which a consensus can be reached on solutions that meet both the requirements of business and the broader needs of society, such as the needs of stakeholder groups like consumers and users.
What ISO's name means
Because "International Organization for Standardization" would have different abbreviations in different languages ("IOS" in English, "OIN" in French for Organisation internationale de normalisation), it was decided at the outset to use a word derived from the Greek isos, meaning "equal". Therefore, whatever the country, whatever the language, the short form of the organization's name is always ISO.
I wonder how long it took them come up with the concept of an acronym that is not an acronym?
However, my example is adequate to illustrate the point.
at the lumber yard and the bill says 48x98 (mm. When plained). "Tom" is hort for tomme=thumb.