X/Open Company Limited started life as a standards organization, initially focussed on the interfaces to the UNIX operating but broadened out to define the Common Applications Environment .. a complete environment to support the development and deployment of portable application software. As it evolved, X/Open reached out to customers and introduced a requirements process to ensure that its work was driven by the real needs of IT users, developed conformance tests and introduced its open brand program to enable customers to procure products in total confidence that they would conform to the agreed standards.