The Open Group Technical Procedures

11 - Interface Adoption Criteria

APPROVAL AUTHORITY FOR THIS PROCEDURE: Board of Directors

APPROVED by resolution of the The Open Group Board of Directors, September 1996.

This version contains minor unapproved changes (shown in red, deleted text shown in yellow) to reflect the change from the Technical Managers to the Architecture Board.

Contents

1. Introduction
2. Applicability of Criteria
3. Criteria to be Applied
4. Process Implementation

11.1 Introduction

This procedure describes the criteria of openness which must be considered before any Specification may be adopted by The Open Group as the basis for the development and possible publication of an Open Group Standard or inclusion in the Standards Information Base.

Criteria to be considered include :

• Legal Considerations
• Market Need
• Cost
• Availability of Conformant Products
• Timing

Not all of the criteria defined are absolute requirements, but all must be considered before the final decision is taken on adoption of a specification.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Although statements regarding conformance to these criteria must be based on the submitters' good faith claims, it is recognised that some constraints, such as licenses and/or patents, may not be known at the time of submission and The Open Group can provide no immunity from legal action to any company utilising the specifications.

11.2 Applicability of Criteria

In the following sections, the applicability of each criterion is defined as follows :

Required

The specification may not be adopted as a standard unless the criterion is satisfied

 

Recommended

A good rationale must be presented if the criterion is not satisfied

 

Desirable

Although, ideally, it is desirable that this criterion be satisfied, it is recognised that circumstances may preclude this

 

Informational

This information must be known, before any decision to adopt the standard is taken

11.3 Criteria to be Applied

11.3.1 Legal Criteria

The legal criteria remain based on those established by the X/Open Board of Directors in July 1989 :

Required:

• A permanent royalty free copyright license from the copyright holder of the material for The Open Group to use and publish (Not required if The Open Group has no plans to publish the standard).
  
• If the interfaces to be adopted are covered by patents, such patents must be licensed by their owners on a reasonable and non-discriminatory basis.
  
• An assurance that a person developing a product in accordance with the standard is immune from any liability to the contributor of the material in respect of the use by him or his customers of such material, other than through failure to properly license predisclosed patents.
  
• The terms to be such that The Open Group will not be inhibited in its efforts to secure acceptance by international standards bodies.

Desirable:

• The contributor to give The Open Group access to all future versions of the material with no obligation on The Open Group to adopt them.

11.3.2 Market Need Criterion

Recommended:

• Evidence that there is a market need for the interface.

  For example :

  1. Customer councils requirement
  2. Requirement derived from The Open Group Product Management Strategy
  3. Vendor submitted evidence

11.3.3 Stability Criteria

Required:

• The availability of a high quality specification upon which Open Group activities can be based

Desirable:

• The availability of a test suite which could be used as the basis for conformance testing
• Conformant product available (for CAE Specification status)

Informational:

• Understanding of activities in this area in other consortia and official standards bodies
• Existing implementations respect lower level Open Group interfaces to achieve portability

11.3.4 Implementation Criteria

Required:

• If the standard is taken from a existing product source licensable from a single vendor only, then implementations should be available to all companies on an non-discriminatory basis. This includes pricing and licensing conditions.
  
• Freedom for anyone to develop a practical product which either supports or utilises the same interfaces, subject to the need to license any predisclosed patents
  
• The interfaces to be adopted must be specified sufficiently that a conformant product may be implemented (and usable) using only:
  • The standard itself
  • Products or services (e.g. protocols) that are publicly available or obtainable from multiple sources on a non-disciminatory basis
  • Formal standards from accredited standards development organisations
  • Other Open Group published or referenced standards
  • Other freely available information

Informational:

• Commercial availability of implementations.

11.3.5 Future Criteria

Recommended:

• Either the originator should operate a process acceptable to The Open Group to handle modifications and/or extensions to the standard or The Open Group should be free to modify and/or extend the it.
  
• The Open Group should have access to relevant extensions/enhancements to interfaces from the developer of interface for an agreed period (without obligation). It is expected that this obligation will be clearly bounded in the legal agreement with the submitter.

Desirable:

• Commitment from originator to adopt and implement agreed Open Group changes and/or extensions

11.4 Process Implementation

It is the responsibility of The Open Group Product Manager to ensure that Interface Adoption Criteria are met.

When it is proposed to select a specification as the basis of Open Group work, the Open Group Product Manager shall advise the Architecture Board.

At any stage during the development and/or adoption of the standard, any member of the Architecture Board may ask for a formal report that the Interface Adoption Criteria have been met, in which case, the Open Group Product Manager shall prepare a report demonstrating that all of the defined criteria have been considered, and that all of the required conditions are satisfied.

The report shall be signed off by

1. The Open Group Product Manager - To confirm that market need, stability, implementation and future criteria have been considered and met.
   
2. The Open Group Legal Counsel - To confirm that legal criteria have been met.
   

Under normal circumstances, a formal report will be requested only when the submitter of a proposed standard is from outside The Open Group, and not from a formal standards development organization or liaison consortium that has comparable acceptance criteria. However, it is the responsibility of all parties in the standards creation and approval process to ensure that the Criteria are satisfied in all Open Group standards. To that end, and to avoid confusion late in the approval process, the Open Group Product Manager shall ensure that all participants in Technical Working Groups or Task Forces, and, where relevant, all participants in Program or Task Groups, have been informed of the details of the Criteria and that these groups evaluate all aspects of their work to ensure the Criteria are met.

Last updated on February 03, 1998 13:38

Copyright, The Open Group © 1997