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Member Newsletter
January 2004
Welcome to a new edition of The Open Group Member Newsletter!
We hope it will be a valuable resource for our members, and
a tool as useful as The Open Group website.
Please let us know if there is anything you would like to
see in this newsletter, or on our website, by contacting us
at memnews@opengroup.org.
We look forward to hearing your feedback.
In This Issue:
CEO Corner with Allen Brown
Early in 2000, I was invited by Doug Englebart to speak at
his colloquium at Stanford University. This was a great honor.
For those that do not know, Doug Englebart garnered fame mainly
through his invention of the computer mouse and was the first
to use the cathode-ray tube for the display of text, of graphics
and of the mouse pointer (the monitor as we know it today).
He is credited with pioneering online computing and email,
and other inventions and innovations. The colloquium was named
Unrev-II (the unfinished revolution, part II). http://www.bootstrap.org
It was called the unfinished revolution because, although
he made some history-changing inventions along the way, Englebart’s
lifelong career goal is one of boosting individual and organizational
ability to better address problems that are complex and urgent.
Many of the things Englebart said then have stuck with me.
For example, he cites a number of reasons for action. The
first two are:
- Our world is a complex place with urgent problems of
a global scale.
- The rate, scale, and complex nature of change is unprecedented
and beyond the capability of any one person, organization,
or even nation to comprehend and respond to.
While Englebart’s vision is focused on boosting the
collective IQ of a community on a scale commensurate with
the rate, scale, and pervasiveness of change, I think that
the current and accelerating trend towards strategic alliances
can contribute to achieving his vision.
Strategic alliances are having a massive impact on our industry.
While not a new idea, they are now being executed more often
and more effectively than ever before. Some of the more recently
formed consortia are benefiting from best practices developed
for strategic alliances and from the experiences of their
participants in working in alliances.
The result is that these alliance consortia can mobilize a
lot of very productive resources from amongst their members
to make rapid and tangible progress. This is in quite stark
contrast to consortia and traditional standards development
organizations, where competitors sit around jockeying for
position, seemingly counting angels on a pinhead and thwarting
any sense of real progress, just in case someone gains an
advantage.
For The Open Group this trend brings with it new challenges
but also many new opportunities.
One of the most immediate opportunities is that The Open Group
is able to participate as a member of these new alliance consortia
and contribute to their success. Recently we have been accepted
as members of the OMA (Open Mobility Alliance) and of the
GCF (Global Certification Forum). This is the strongest possible
recognition that The Open Group has something to offer beyond
that of an arms-length vendor. Our participation will seek
to ensure that we avoid fragmentation in certification best
practice among consortia.
Among the challenges is new competition from standards development
organizations offering services to consortia, as they seek
to replace the income they are losing from their traditional
business activity. This market now has an over-supply and
some of the smaller service organizations will find that the
going is going to get tough.
For The Open Group the opportunities afforded by strategic
alliances far outweigh the challenges. I will illustrate with
a few examples of the many relationships we are engaged in.
We have established an alliance with Kavi (http://www.kavi.com),
the leading provider of web-based infrastructure for standards
consortia and professional associations in the technology
industry. Their pre-packaged, rapidly-deployed web solutions
and expert support provide a structure that enables organizations
to implement best practices for consortia management and collaborative
standards development. This makes a powerful combination when
allied with The Open Group’s expert staff, skilled at
guiding groups from their earliest beginnings through to market
success and beyond, and with our core competence in certification.
We would like to extend this alliance to include other organizations,
so each brings its own distinctive competence to address the
needs of consortia. Today the best one-stop-shop is not a
single entity.
Organizations such as The Open Group have evolved to continuously
seek to deliver greater value to our members, in spite of
the competition from the newer alliance consortia. Another
such organization is OMG.
These two organizations have had a long term relationship
going back to the certification of products conforming to
OMG’s CORBA™ standard and before. Today the opportunities
for an effective alliance seem to be around architecture and
real-time and embedded systems.
In December I met with Richard Soley, Chairman and CEO of
OMG. One of the many things we agreed upon was that what our
two organizations are doing around architecture is more compatible
than most people would think, and we would both benefit from
a better positioning. What we agreed on as a positioning statement
was, “Choose your framework, use TOGAF to fill it and
MDA to empty it." This allows for Zachmann and other
frameworks, emphasizes TOGAF’s ADM, and positions MDA
as how to implement in real systems. We are both going to
get behind this positioning and Richard suggested we try for
a joint workshop in November in DC - on TOGAF/MDA with the
deliverable being a White Paper.
We have also developed a valued partnership with DISA for
COE (Common Operating Environment) Certification, which will
evolve towards the GES (Grid Enterprise Services). This is
going to be hugely important for all of us. In San Diego,
we are fortunate to have Dawn Meyerriecks as our keynote speaker.
Dawn is now Principal Director for GIG Enterprise Services
at the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) of the US
Department of Defense, and she will be talking about the importance
of standards and certification. I will also be introducing
General Carl O’Berry (Ret.) from Boeing, and Dave Chesebrough,
President of AFEI (Association for Enterprise Integration).
It is our hope and intention to establish a strong alliance
with AFEI to ensure the success of the GIG Enterprise Services.
While it might seem odd for a consortium to be proud of the
strategic alliances it is engaged in, this is the most effective
way we know of today for achieving results. The benefits returned
to our members include faster promulgation of best practices,
reduced fragmentation and broader overall awareness of the
industry at large.
I cannot claim that we are exactly realizing Englebart’s
vision in the way we bring organizations together in our own
community and then extend their reach and influence through
strategic relationships. One day, I am sure, we will use the
tools and processes he envisages. In the meantime, I believe
we are in some way contributing to finishing his revolution.
Top of Page
CIO Corner with Terry Blevins
I have written in the past about how we need to think about
certified products strategically. Since then we have had an
opportunity to meet with a lot of really smart people about
certification. In the upcoming conference we will talk specifically
about open standards and certification. I’ve also written
about architecture and how important architecture is to successfully
aligning Information Technology to the needs of the business.
Today I’d like to put the two together and then provide
a little more detail on what certification means.
Let’s start by thinking about architecture in the civil
engineering sense, which is using architecture in the world
of building cities. Architecture isn’t the buildings;
it is a tool that helps create the buildings. Architecture
isn’t the infrastructure of a city; it is a tool that
helped create the infrastructure. How does architecture help?
Well it helps by guiding the construction of the buildings
or infrastructure. It does so in a way that maintains the
integrity of the city, that is meets the agreed requirements.
And how does architecture help guide the construction - by
providing decision-making guidance: not just helping decide
on the materials that will be used, but rather describing
the requirements that must be met by the materials. Architecture
sets the requirements for strength of a beam, or transparency
of a window through attributes… it does not say the
beam must be steel or the window must be glass, but rather
that the beam must bear a specific load, or that a window
must allow for specific light to pass through.
In the Information Technology world architecture has similar
responsibilities: to set the requirements in order for the
integrity of a system to be maintained. We understand speeds
and feed well enough, but other qualities of a system are
a bit more difficult for us to truly understand yet. One area
which we are learning about is the intersection of the two
qualities of flexibility and durability. These two qualities
are becoming ever more important as Information Technology
is being pushed to do more for less. And it is these two qualities
that are demanding that we pay attention to specific attributes
of the materials used in creating a system. One of the attributes
that address flexibility and durability is “open.”
Materials that are open have interfaces that allow flexibility
on either side of the interface. So flexibility is a key driver
for openness. In order to ensure durability over time, open
interfaces must be maintained. To ensure that open interfaces
are maintained over time we use conformance testing and certification.
So you can see that in today’s Information Technology
world, architecture is driving the need for certified components
in order to address real world business requirements. Certified
components help build more flexible and longer lasting solutions.
But what do we actually mean by certification?
In the session I mention above where we met to discuss certification,
we learned a lot. We learned that customers, contractors,
vendors, component suppliers, standards bodies, and certification
bodies are all engaged, in one way or another, in certification.
They are all a part of a value chain that results in solutions.
We also learned that certification has the potential to provide
many benefits to this value chain including:
- Assurance that the product has been scrutinized and verified
to meet some specific functional and/or interoperability
requirements
- Stimulated commercial uptake through trust of buyers
and agencies
- Protection in the event of disputes about product liability
We learned that a certificate is a mark of trust, such as
“UL”. It implies some successful assessment against
stated and specific criteria in many cases determined by conformance
testing. Conformance testing is a commonly used and successful
means for assessing and providing evidence of the correctness
of the implementation of the criteria. The certificate is
awarded by, or through, a certification process that is appropriately
set up for the stated criteria and the state of the subject
of certification. Certification results in certified components,
people, or processes. Certification can be run internally,
or by third parties called Certification Authorities. As a
mark of trust, a certificate implies that if there is a failure
in the component to meet the criteria, then there is an established
recourse for action.
Certification has its pros and cons, but a good certification
program optimizes the pros and minimizes the cons. Attributes
of a good certification program include:
- Appropriate
- Cost-effective
- Criteria-based measures
- Timely
- Holistic
- Trusted
A standards-based certification program lowers the cost
and time from a customer-specific approach, and has higher
integrity than the self-declaration approach.
Putting this all together we see a virtuous circle:
- business requirements for flexibility and durability
- architecture decisions for open interfaces
- component attributes for conformance to standards
- highly leveraged quality certification
- purchasing of certified product
- construction of a solution that meets the business requirements
at lower costs and lower risk
In The Open Group we are all working on different areas
of this circle, and sometimes we need to remind ourselves
that it all really does fit together.
Definitions:
Certificate – A written statement attesting 1) some
fact about an object to which the certificate applies, or
2) or the status and qualifications of a person holding a
certificate.
Certification – 1) To state in a certificate, 2) the
process of assuring some fact, or the status and qualifications
of a person.
Certified component – An information technology hardware
or software part, sub-assembly, assembly, or system that holds
a certificate.
Standard – a definition or format that has been approved
by a recognized standards organization or is accepted as a
de facto standard by the industry.
http://www.opengroup.org/cio
Top of Page
The Open Group on Information Week's "TechTalk"
Terry Blevins, The Open Group’s Vice President and CIO,
was recently interviewed by InformationWeek's TechTalk program.
Terry spoke about the challenges and pressures facing CIO’s
today, and discussed some of the strategies that executives
can use to gain a clearer idea of the challenges facing their
business. As their business clients increasingly expect to
receive integrated information whenever and wherever they
need it, the CIO’s have to deliver more for less. CIO’s
are being held accountable, and achieving necessary new levels
of integration can be risky.
To watch the full interview, please visit http://www.capstonemultimedia.com/custom/informationweek/video.cfm?filebase=tech_talk-open_group
Top of Page
Boundaryless
Information Flow: Open Standards and Certification Conference
The Open Group’s conference “Boundaryless Information
Flow: Open Standards and Certification” held February
2-6 in San Diego, CA, is focused on the application and use
of certified standards-based products.
Monday morning opens with “The Role of Standards and
Certification – just what are standards, and why are
they important to your business?” The afternoon session
includes “Standards and Product Certification, the Supplier
View – meeting customers’ needs and maximizing
product interoperability,” and “Standards and
Product Certification, the Customer View – how standards
work for us, establishing a standards strategy, the advantages
of certified systems.” The afternoon program ends with
“The Evolving Role of Standards.”
Tuesday has two tracks for attendees: an “Integration
Workshop” and a “Standards, Testing and Certification
Exhibition”.
The conference is open to non-members. Immediately following
the conference, The Open Group Member Meeting will continue
the work in each of its specific subject forums.
Speakers for the Conference include:
Keynote:
- Dawn Meyerriecks - Principal Director for GIG Enterprise
Services, Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA), US
Department of Defense
- Ron Eller, Vice President and General Manager, ESS Solution
Alliances, Hewlett-Packard Company
Plenary Speakers:
- Carl O’Berry - Vice President, Strategic Architecture,
Boeing Integrated Defense Systems
- Dave Chesebrough - President, Association For Enterprise
Integration (AFEI)
- David Archer - President and CEO, Petrotechnical Open
Standards Consortium (POSC)
- Dr. Susan Zevin - Acting Director, Information Technology
Laboratory, NIST
- Carl Reed - Executive Director Specification Program,
Open GIS Consortium (OGC)
- Roger Reich - Chair, Storage Management Initiative Committee,
Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA)
- Andrew Roach - Director of Solaris Technology, Sun Microsystems
For the full conference schedule, please visit http://www.opengroup.org/sandiego2004
Top of Page
UNIX® Recognized as UK Business Superbrand
The Open Group’s UNIX brand has been awarded highly
coveted Business Superbrand status by The Brand Council, and
will be featured in its 2003/04 book. Voted by an independent
judging panel of experts made up of eminent figures from the
world of business, UNIX was identified as one of the most
admired, exceptional business-to-business brands, commanding
customer loyalty, respect and trust. Stephen Cheliotis, Brand
Liaison Director of The Brand Council said, “Through
building, maintaining and protecting the UNIX brand, The Open
Group have provided an invaluable mark for the entire industry
that has proved important to both developers and buyers of
IT systems and servers. The systems that are covered by the
UNIX brand are vital to modern business and indeed our wider,
increasingly technologically reliant, societies.”
To read more, please visit http://www.opengroup.org/comm/press/17dec03.htm
Top of Page
Certification News
The Open Group is pleased to announce
that the following products have been registered as conforming
to the SIF-enabled Application Product Standard 1.1:
- Nsure Identity Manager 2 with DirXML Driver for SIF 1.1
from Novell Inc.
- SASIxp 5.5 with The Edustructures SIF Agent for SASIxp
1.1 from NCS Pearson, Inc
- PaC School Management Software 01.xx.xx.x with SkySIFAgent
1.x.xxxx from Skyward
- STIOffice 6 with STISif 1.0.6.0.1 from Software Technology,
Incorporated
To view all current SIF certifications and Conformance Statements,
please see the SIF Certification Register at http://www.opengroup.org/sif/cert/register.html
For more information on the SIF compliance program, please
visit: http://www.opengroup.org/sif/cert
The Open Group is pleased to announce
that the following have recently been registered under the
TOGAF 7 Certification Program:
- John Foster – C&C Technology Ltd.
- Jason Colombo – C&C Technology Ltd.
- Mario Mallia Milanes – Malta Information Technology
& Training Services Ltd.
For further information please refer to the register at
http://www.opengroup.org/certification/togaf7/register.html
WAP Certifications
We are pleased to announce the certification of
- Samsung SGH-Z100 Version Z10XAWH2 from Samsung
- LG G7200 Version 1.0 from LG Electronics
- Philips 639 Version CT6398 from Philips
as conforming to the WAP June 2000 product specification.
To view the WAP Certified register, please refer to http://www.opengroup.org/wap/cert/register_j2k.html
LSB Certification News
We are pleased to announce that SUSE Linux AG has registered:
- SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 8 for S/390 with Service
Pack 3
- SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 8 for PPC32 with Service
Pack 3
as conforming to the LSB Runtime Environment for S/390 and
PPC32 version 1.3 product standard respectively.
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 for S/390
as conforming to the LSB Runtime Environment for S390 version
1.3 product standard.
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 for iSeries and pSeries
as conforming to the LSB Runtime Environment for PPC32 version
1.3 product standard.
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 for x86
as conforming to the LSB Runtime Environment for IA32 version
1.3 product standard.
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 for IA64
as conforming to the LSB Runtime Environment for IA64 version
1.3 product standard.
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 for zSeries
as conforming to the LSB Runtime Environment for S390X version
1.3 product standard.
To see the Conformance Statement please refer to the latest
official list of LSB registered products at http://www.opengroup.org/lsb/cert/register.html
and click on the CSQ icon for the product.
For more information on the Free Standards Group Certification
program, please refer to http://www.freestandards.org/certification/
Top of Page
Conference Schedule 2004/2005
The Open Group has published its list of workshops and conferences
2004/2005, including dates, locations, and themes:
Conferences in the Boundaryless Information
Flow (TM) series:
February 2-6, 2004 San Diego, USA Open Standards and Certification
April 19-23, 2004 Europe Managing the Flow
July 19-23, 2004 Boston, USA Enterprise Information Management
October 18-21, 2004 New Orleans, USA Securing the Extended
Enterprise
January 24-28, 2005 San Francisco, USA Identity, Trust and
Access
April 25-29, 2005 Dublin, Eire Secure Architecture, Web &
Mobility
July 18-22, 2005 New York, USA Managing the Enterprise
October 17-21, 2005 Brussels, Belgium Open Source and Standards
Summit
For the full listing, please visit http://www.opengroup.org/events
Top of Page
Industry Events Calendar
The Open Group to exhibit at LinuxWorld
Expo
New York, January 21-23, 2004
See us at Booth #248
http://www.linuxworldexpo.com
Massachusetts Health Data Consortium
2004 Healthcare Information Technology Conference
" Making e-Health Work: What You Need to Know"
February 6, 2004
The Westin Waltham, 70 Third Avenue, Waltham, MA
http://www.mahealthdata.org/forums/events/2004/HIT_0206/agenda.html
RSA 13th Annual Conference
February 23-27 2004
Moscone Center, San Francisco, California
http://www.rsasecurity.com/
5th National Information Security Conference (NISC5)
May 19-21 2004
St Andrews, Scotland
http://www.nisc.org.uk/
Global EAI Summit
Enterprise Application Integration
May 24-28, 2004
Banff (Alberta), Canada
http://www.globaleiasummit.com
Top of Page
Final Thoughts...
Please let us know if there are other subjects you would like
to see covered in this newsletter, if you have any comments
on any story or article in the newsletter, or to send letters
to the editor for possible publication in the future. You
can contacts us at memnews@opengroup.org.
We look forward to hearing from you, and will see you next
month.
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