Open Group Standards

Overview Criteria for Inclusion in the SIB Technical Processes Product Standards Open Brand

Overview

Besides the fact that they are structured and made accessible in the Standards Information Base, using Open Group standards to populate an architecture has a number of distinct advantages for the architect, and for the architect's organization:

Individual Open Group standards are developed by proven technical processes that establish strong industry consensus behind a standard.

The Open Group adds value to individual standards by integrating them into sets, known as Product Standards, which are designed to be used together.

Open Group Product Standards are supported by a unique brand - the Open Brand - which in turn is supported by an extensive set of conformance tests, and which guarantees the conformance to a Product Standard of real products available in the market.

Information on the different types of Open Group standards and publications is available from the Open Group Publications web site.

The Open Group makes all of its standards published since January 1997 freely available in HTML form. It also maintains a current list of the Open Group standards and other Open Group publications that are accessible in this way.

Criteria for Inclusion in the Standards Information Base

The content of the Standards Information Base is determined by a consensus technical process. In order to be included in the SIB, a standard needs to be recommended by a Program Group that has responsibility in the relevant technical area. At the same time, confirmation is sought that each new entry acceptably meets the criteria listed below.

Criterion	Explanation
Non-discriminatory Implementation	If the specification 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.
Availability of Dependencies	If an implementation requires other products or services to be usable (e.g... protocols), the complementary products or services must be publicly available, specified by The Open Group or obtainable from multiple sources.
Availability of Implementations	Commercial availability of implementations.
Completeness of specification	The interfaces to be adopted must be specified sufficiently that a conformant product may be implemented (and usable) using only: The specification itself Products or services (e.g. protocols) that are publicly available or obtainable from multiple sources on a non-discriminatory basis Formal standards from accredited standards development organisations Other Open Group originated or adopted specifications Other freely available information
Freedom to Develop	Freedom for anyone to develop a practical product which either supports or utilises the same specification, subject to the need to license any predisclosed patents
Future Access	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.
Immunity from Liability	An assurance that a person developing a product in accordance with the specification 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.
Market Need	Evidence that there is a market need for the interface. For example: Customer requirement Requirement derived from The Open Group's product management activities Vendor submitted evidence
No proprietary lock in	The interfaces to be adopted are complete, in that it is not necessary to use any additional interfaces, retained as proprietary, in order to create commercially usable products.
Non-Discriminatory Patents	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.
Other Activities	Understanding of activities in this area in other consortia and official standards bodies
Specification Availability	The availability of a high quality specification upon which Open Group activities can be based
Test Suite Availability	The availability of a test suite which could be used as the basis for conformance testing

The Open Group Technical Processes

The technical processes by which The Open Group produces its standards are long established and widely accepted throughout the industry.

They are also central to The Open Group's mission of delivering greater business efficiency by making it easier to integrate information technology across the enterprise.

By means of these processes, The Open Group both:

defines the industry consensus standards necessary to support the deployment of interoperable infrastructures and business applications, and

promotes the availability in the market place of products that conform to those standards.

As a result, enterprise architects can design, and customer organizations procure, multi-vendor information technology solutions that both meet the business needs, and integrate within and between enterprises, with reduced time, cost, and risk.

More about the Open Group technical processes.

Product Standards

All individual standards adopted through The Open Group's technical processes are known as Open Group Standards, and are documented in its Standards Information Base.

The Open Group adds value to the standards in its Standards Information Base by integrating related standards into sets, known as Product Standards (analogous to "solution building blocks" in TOGAF terms, or "technical profiles" in the formal standards world^{^[1]}), which are designed to be used together.

This is a recursive process, the goal being the definition of "procurement ready" Product Standards, whose functionality is strongly related to the needs of customers, and whose scope and structure is strongly related to real products that can be procured in the open market.

More about Open Group Product Standards.

The Open Brand

The Open Brand is signified by the green "X" Device. It can be associated with, and used in relation to, IT systems that have been registered with The Open Group as being fully conformant with one or more Product Standards.

Anyone wishing to register a product, or products, and use the "X" Device, must first sign the Open Brand Trademark License Agreement and thereby "warrant and represent" that any products they register will fully conform to the identified Product Standard(s), and continue to do so.

Thus the Open Brand, when associated with a vendor's product, communicates clearly and unambiguously to a procurer that the software bearing the brand correctly implements the corresponding Open Group Product Standard.

Customers specifying the Open Brand in their procurements can therefore be certain that the branded products they buy will conform to the Product Standard at the time of purchase, and will continue to do so for as long as the product remains registered.

More about the Open Brand

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[1]For example, as defined in ISO/IEC TR 14252 (IEEE Std 1003.0) and IEEE Std 1003.23