# X/Open Adopts Federated Naming (fwd)

Daniel W. Connolly (connolly@hal.com)
Mon, 11 Jul 1994 11:26:38 -0500

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    Message-Id: <9407111626.AA14763@ulua.hal.com>

    To: uri@bunyip.com

    Subject: X/Open Adopts Federated Naming (fwd)

    Date: Mon, 11 Jul 1994 11:26:38 -0500

    From: "Daniel W. Connolly" <connolly@hal.com>

Looks like the this URI WG has been scooped...

Anybody know anything beyond the marketing hype about this?

------- Forwarded Message

Forwarded message:
The Florida SunFlash

X/Open Adopts Federated Naming As Preliminary Specification

SunFLASH Vol 67 #11 July 1994
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Electronic Journal For Sun Users Since 1988
John J. Mclaughlin, Publisher & Editor - flash@sun.com
____________________________________________________________________________
67.11
From: sanjay@gigahz-37.Eng.Sun.COM (Sanjay Sinha)

I am pleased to inform you X/Open today announced adoption of
Federated Naming Service (XFN) as a "Preliminary
Specification." SunSoft started advanced development of
Federated Naming technology as early as 1990 and holds patents
on the Federated Naming. In order to proliferate and ensure
industry-wide acceptance of Federated Naming, we worked closely
with DEC, HP, IBM, OSF, and Siemens Nixdorf in the development
of the XFN specification and its submission to X/Open. This
annoucement reiterates SunSoft's leadership position in
defining networking technologies and cooperating with major
industry players to solve Global 1000 customers heterogeneous
enterprise computing needs.

- Jim Billmaier
VP and General Manager, Network Products Business, SunSoft

(243 lines)
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XFN is key to allowing enterprise-wide information access across
heterogeneous network. The XFN specification defines a standard
interface that provides access to and federation among multiple naming
services such as ONC+ NIS+, DCE CDS, OSI X.500 and Internet DNS.
Developers can take advantage of XFN and build applications that are
portable because the underlying naming/directory services are not
exposed. Therefore, customers can continue deploying Solaris and NIS+
and be assured their investment is protected as XFN-compliant
applications can seamlessly access NIS+ information as well as
interoperate with multiple network computing architectures of an
enterprise.

SunSoft plans to aggressively incorporate XFN in key system services in
Solaris, and also in CDE applications:
- - XFN will be used to federate NIS+, Internet DNS, and other naming services.
- - Network file services in Solaris will use XFN to provide a coherent
and consistent view to a global name space.
- - Applications such as calendar manager and network printing will use
XFN to provide seamless access to networked resources enterprise-wide.

Jim Billmaier
VP and General Manager, Network Products Business, SunSoft

(Included below is the X/Open XFN Press Release)

- ------------------------
X/Open XFN Press Release
- ------------------------

- ------

X/OPEN CO., LTD.
1010 El Camino Real #380
Menlo Park, CA 94025
Jeff Hansen
(415) 323-7992

- -or-

REGIS McKENNA INC.
1755 Embarcadero Road
Palo Alto, CA 94303
Craig Broadbent
(415) 494-2030

X/Open Adopts Federated Naming As Preliminary Specification

Specification Enables Interoperability
Among Different Distributed Computing Environments

MENLO PARK, CA -- July 6, 1994 -- X/Open Company, Ltd. today
announced that the X/Open Federated Naming Service (XFN) was adopted by
X/Open as a "Preliminary Specification." XFN will deliver important
benefits to both developers and end users. It is key to enabling
interoperability of network directory services and applications in
heterogeneous, multivendor distributed computing environments on a global,
enterprise-wide scale. In addition, a new class of portable applications
for enterprise-wide information sharing and administration is expected to
emerge due to XFN's simple and powerful API (application programming
interface) and policy set.

The XFN specification was submitted to X/Open on March 15th of this
year. Following a quality review and formatting, the formal "Fast-Track"
review of the specification was initiated in April. X/Open's adoption of
XFN as a Preliminary Specification in only three months marks one of the
most successful Fast-Track submissions to date.

The XFN Champion companies who worked cooperatively in the
development of this specification and its submission to X/Open included
Digital Equipment Corp., Hewlett-Packard Company, IBM Corp., the Open
Software Foundation, Siemens Nixdorf Informationssysteme AG, and SunSoft,
Inc.

"The adoption of this specification by X/Open is a major step
toward unifying the end user environment," said Mr. Arthur Gaylord,
Director, Project Pilgrim, University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
"Recognizing that most large user organizations have multiple naming
schemes, the XFN specification allows for coexistence rather than dictating
one naming structure. This is critical for the protection of current
investments and the integration of new technologies."

Dr Petr Janecek, X/Open's Common Application Development Business
Unit Manager said, "Since different distributed environments like DCE and
ONC+ use different naming systems, the existence of a service which makes
it possible to resolve composite names is an essential precondition for
successful interoperability between such environments." Dr. Janecek added,
"The industry agreement to submit to X/Open the XFN specification, confirms
that such interoperability is high on the agenda for the industry and that
X/Open is recognized as the proper keeper of definitions of tools making
distributed environment interoperability come true."

The XFN specification defines a standard interface that provides
access to and federation among multiple naming services such as DCE CDS,
ONC+ NIS+, OSI X.500 and Internet DNS. As different computing environments
implement support for XFN, and applications and utilities integrate it,
access across these diverse environments will be simplified. XFN also
simplifies system administration by integrating the heterogeneous
enterprise network, and improves end user ease-of-use by enabling network
applications and services to transparently locate and refer to information
in a heterogeneous enterprise-wide network.

Developers can take advantage of XFN and build applications that
are portable because the underlying naming/directory services are not
exposed. In addition, these applications become more powerful because they
now can span multiple network computing architectures of an enterprise.

A "Preliminary Specification" from X/Open is an interim document
that addresses an emerging area of technology. Preliminary
Specifications are analogous to "trial-use" standards issued by formal
standards bodies, and, while they are as stable as possible, changes
may be made before they are published as final X/Open CAE
Specifications. Until published as a final CAE Specification supported
by testing and formal branding, there is no basis for conformance
claims to a Preliminary Specification. The XFN Preliminary
Specification will be available from X/Open in August. Its full title
is : "Federated Naming: The XFN Specification. X/Open Document
Number P403 ISBN 1-85912-075-8 It will be $70 in hard copy.

X/Open Company, Ltd., founded in 1984, is a worldwide, independent
open systems organization dedicated to providing a unified path to open
systems specification and implementation. This unification is achieved
through the close co-operation and integration of input from users, vendors
and standards organizations worldwide. The X/Open specification, which
covers both interoperability and applications portability elements, is
based on de facto and international standards. X/Open operates a test and
verification process for products developed in line with its specification,
and awards its brand as the mark of compliance.

###

X/Open and the "X" device are registered trademarks of X/Open Company Ltd.
UNIX is a registered trademark in the United States and other countries,
licensed exclusively through X/Open Company Limited. All other product or
service names mentioned here in are trademarks of their respective owners.

******

Supporting Statements For The X/Open XFN Press Release
July 6, 1994

Hewlett-Packard Company:
Contact: Kelly Emo (408) 447-5334
"This cooperative XFN spec is a basis for future products that will provide
significant benefits for customers looking to distribute applications
across multivendor networks. By having multiple vendors involved in the
development and support of the XFN specification, interoperability is
enhanced. Key naming services customers use today will be supported by
XFN, and subsequently, customers will have a powerful tool for integrating
these services across their networks." Fred Luiz, general manager of HP's
Open Systems Software Division.

Siemens Nixdorf Informationssysteme AG (SNI):
Contact: Gianni Rabaioli (011) 49 89 636 41135
Werner Pfadler, vice president of SNI said, "Siemens Nixdorf as a leading
supplier of X.500-based directory products, welcomes the acceptance of XFN
as an X/Open Preliminary Specification. SNI believes that XFN will
stimulate the use of naming services and lead to the development of new
directory applications in heterogeneous corporate network environments.
This will also help to preserve and optimize customer's investments. SNI
was involved in the XFN specification from the very beginning. As a
supplier of X.500 technology to OSF, SNI plans to work with the DCE
partners to incorporate XFN into DCE GDS and into its own X.500 product
DIR.X, which was distinguished with the Hot Product Award 1994 by the Data
Communication magazine."

SunSoft, Inc.:
Contact: Carol Sacks (415) 336-1462
"CIOs in Global 1000 companies need to integrate existing islands of
information into a coherent global network. XFN is key to allowing
enterprise-wide information access across heterogeneous networks. We worked
closely with our industry partners in developing the XFN Spec, which is
another example of the open standards process delivering greater
interoperability to users worldwide." Jim Billmaier, vice-president and
general manager, Network Products Business, SunSoft Inc.
Sun, the Sun logo, Sun Microsystems, and ONC+ are trademarks or registered
trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. All SPARC trademarks, including the
SCD Compliant logo, are trademarks or registered trademarks of SPARC
International, Inc. Products bearing SPARC trademarks are based on an
architecture developed by Sun Microsystems, Inc.

Additional Company Contacts:

Digital Equipment Corp.:
Contact: Chuck Malkiel (508) 493-4164

IBM:
Contact: Deborah Wood (512) 823-3258

Open Software Foundation:
Contact: Jane Smeloff (617) 621-8997

###

- ------------------------------------------------------------------------
__ _
\\ / X/Open Company Limited Jeff Hansen
\\/ 1010, El Camino Real, Suite 380 Director
/\\ Menlo Park, California 94025 Marketing Communications
/ \\ Tel: +1 (415) 323-7992 x235
/ \\_ Fax: +1 (415) 323-8204
O EMail: j.hansen@xopen.co.uk

"X/Open and the X device are trademarks of X/Open Company Ltd."
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------

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