Interoperability Program Group
Interoperability Forum
The meeting will have three parts:
- A discussion of the proposed new working methods for The Open Group
- An external view of the importance of the Interoperability problem from both customer and vendor perspectives
- A focus on Transaction Processing as an example of where all parts of The Open Group must work together to bring about real progress.
The emphasis of the meeting will be on collaboration:
- Between customers, and vendors to define the IT Interoperability challenge.
- Amongst Program Groups, Task Groups, Specification Working Groups, PSTs, and The Open Group Research Institute to propose solutions.
The principal speakers will be:
Dave King (Barclays Bank PLC)
Dave will introduce his White Paper. This describes how he believes The Open Group should be organised so that the IT DialTone concept is turned into practical, effective IT solutions. A key part of his idea is the role that the Open Group Architecture Group can play in capturing user requirements.
John Elmore (ICL PLC)
As a director of ICL, John is aware of the profit that vendors can make by providing system integration services. Equally, during his time at the UK Office of Science and Technology he has worked hard to promote a common and widespread usage of IT amongst all sectors of industry and the community.
If computers are to become as ubiquitous and easy to use as the telephone then a simple, interoperable IT infrastructure has to be created. Making IT a commodity will expand the market and this will, in turn, benefit the IT suppliers.
John Carter (IBM UK)
John is familiar with the degree of success (and failure) that The Open Group has achieved in Transaction Processing in the past.
At the last meeting in Seattle there were contributions from Transarc and BEA Systems and it became clear that the Internet is radically effecting the Transaction Processing business. John will summarise his proposition and confirm that Interoperability remains a major issue.
Chris Harding (The Open Group)
Chris will outline the XNET group’s contribution to Interoperability.
XNET is a long established (48 meetings!) TOG Specification Working Group, which is now undertaking several IT specifications, which could form the infrastructure to Transaction Processing Interoperability
This meeting will be a prototype for a new style of customer-vendor forum. The meeting is deliberately scheduled to enable representatives from all parts of the Open Group to come together and jointly debate the key issues of IT infrastructure.