OSF Announces Reorganization/New Sponsors
bobg
OSF is reorganized, becomes the home of COSE, adds many of the
Unix International companies as Sponsors, creates a new technology
development process (Prestructured Technologies - PST's), and
establishes a new funding model.
See the two press releases below:
The following are 2 press releases which were issued, Wed March
23 at Uniforum (about 9am). One is an OSF press release, the other a
joint sponsor press release.
Rgds,
Bob Goldschneider
OSF Announces Progressive New Business Model
Broader Industry Participation Accelerates
Open Systems Delivery
SAN FRANCISCO, CA March 23, 1994 -- The Open Software Foundation today
announced a progressive new business and operating model which includes
new
technology processes and provides increased opportunities for both end
user and vendor participation. Major systems vendors have joined
together in endorsing the new organizational structure and business
model as the focal point for promoting and accelerating the delivery
of open systems enabling technologies.
In the newly-defined organization, emphasis shifts to a more
project-oriented operating model. Technology projects will be
separately funded and individually managed multi-company development
initiatives. This will enable more concurrent technology projects,
addressing more customer-specific technology issues and requirements
on a much more timely basis.
"We are creating a new organizational model to enable the widest
possible
industry support and participation," explained David Tory, OSF
president
and CEO. "Our goal is to create the most efficient and cost-effective
vehicle
for the accelerated delivery of open system technology. We are
delighted that
our new structure and development processes have already attracted many
influential and key industry players interested in sponsoring the
organization."
The new model's development process introduces the Pre-Structured
Technology, or PST, process. The PST process is the successor to what
has been widely known as the "cose" process, taking the best elements
of that process and formalizing them within the OSF infrastructure.
Moving the "cose" process into an organizational framework is a
crucial step forward in uniting the industry around a focal point
for open systems.
A PST process project begins as an industry initiative in which
multiple
companies collaborate in defining a specific technology project,
identifying an outside third party to act as the prime engineering
contractor, and enlisting project sponsors to fund the project. Once
this pre-packaged project is proposed to and approved by the OSF Board
of Directors, the project is launched.
The engineering for all future technology projects (both RFTs and PSTs)
will be performed by a designated third party Prime Contractor, who
may elect to subcontract portions of work to other vendors or ISVs,
but who will be responsible for the technology delivery. Projects will
be managed through a Project Steering Committee, consisting of OSF
staff, a representative from each project sponsor, and one
representative selected by the End User Steering Committee.
"This shift to an out-sourcing development model capitalizes on
existing
pools of technical expertise, eliminating costly and time-consuming
ramp-up
periods and redundant engineering efforts," added Tory. "This promotes
more
collaborative development efforts by encouraging more companies to be
directly involved with technology projects. Another clear benefit, of
course, is faster time to market for more open systems products at
lower cost."
All constituencies represented in the OSF membership, including end
users
and ISVs, will have the opportunity to participate significantly in the
technology evolution process. Members participate by assisting in
requirements gathering and by influencing the future directions and
priorities for open systems technologies.
An Architecture Planning Council will be formed, comprised of OSF
staff,
representatives from each of the sponsor companies, and a
representative of
the end user community selected by the End User Steering Committee. The
Council will maintain the technology roadmap, review technology project
proposals and make recommendations to the Board. PST projects are
approved on the basis of their consistency with the open systems
architectural vision, and their support for interoperability,
portability and scalability.
In addition to a source code implementation, each technology project
will
produce a specification which will be made freely and publicly
available.
The specification, along with test suites, will be submitted to X/open,
and
other relevant industry standards bodies, as appropriate.
Future enhancements to OSF's existing technologies, including the Motif
graphical user interface, the OSF/1 open operating system, and the
Distributed Computing and Distributed Management Environments (DCE and
DME), will be transitioned to the new per-project funding model upon
completion of their current release cycles. Projects are already "under
construction" to
address the next releases of Motif and DCE and as well as the Common
Desktop
Environment (CDE) work begun under the auspices of the "cose"
initiative.
The Open Software Foundation is an open systems technology delivery
organization with the objective of enabling users of information
technology to exploit that technology to fundamentally improve the way
they do business. OSF supplies software to make information technology
easier to learn and easier to use, while enabling various vendors
equipment to work together, sharing applications and information
across distributed, open computing environments. OSF has created a
coalition of vendors and users working together to provide the best
available
open systems technologies. Headquartered in Cambridge, MA, with offices
in
Brussels and Tokyo, the OSF has over 400 members worldwide.
###
OSF, Open Software Foundation, OSF/1 and Motif are trademarks of the
Open
Software Foundation, Inc.
LEADING VENDORS UNIFY TO ACCELERATE OPEN SYSTEMS
------------------------------------------------
SAN FRANCISCO, CA March 23, 1994 -- Launching a new era of cooperation,
worldwide open systems leaders joined together today and announced a
new organization structure to accelerate and promote the specification
and development of source-level open system software components.
The companies -- including AT&T Global Information Systems; Bull
Worldwide Information Systems; Digital Equipment Corporation;
Fujitsu Limited; Hewlett-Packard Company; Hitachi Limited; IBM
Corporation; International Computers Limited (ICL); NEC Corporation;
Novell, Incorporated; Siemens Nixdorf Information Systems, Inc.;
Sony Corporation; SunSoft Incorporated; Transarc Corporation -- are
responding to increasing customer demands for more focused efforts
to develop open systems technology faster, with wider industry
involvement.
Bringing together former participants of the Open Software Foundation
(OSF) and UNIX International (UI), the new organization also
incorporates the successful elements of the common open software
environment (cose) process. The mission of this new organization is
to develop portable, interoperable, and scalable technologies for
our customers. Based on the OSF structure, the organization will
initally continue to carry the name OSF, although a name change
is being considered to reflect its wider scope and broader industry
participation. The new organization incorporates a multi-tier
sponsorship and membership structure which has already resulted
in greater industry participation.
While retaining the OSF's RFT process, Research Institute, end user and
ISV memberships, and while continuing support for existing OSF
technologies, the new organization will adopt a per-project sponsorship
model. It also will introduce a new pre-structured technology (PST)
process, which is designed to facilitate multi-company cooperative
development projects similar to those initiated under the cose process.
Both the per-project funding and PST will benefit the industry by
increasing the number of projects initiated and reducing the time
for completion, enabling vendors to offer customers more new open
systems products faster.
Key to the success of the organization are the support and
participation of the end user and software development communities.
Through increased opportunities for participation in the requirements
process, project selection, on-going project reviews, and through
a representative on the Board, users and software developers will
have a stronger voice in the open systems process.
The unification represented by this announcement provides benefits for
all participants. For vendors, the new processes and structure offer
increased efficiencies and expanded capacity for cooperative component
technology development projects. Each project will yield a single
specification, simplifying portability and support for software
developers. Ultimately, end users will benefit from the accelerated
delivery of portable, scalable, interoperable open systems solutions.
Bringing all of these communities together in a forum where the
principles of open systems can thrive, this organization ushers in
a new era of cooperation.