Ongoing Work

The following list identifies items in the SPIRIT Issue 3.0 document which have been identified as candidates for further work in the subsequent phases of the SPIRIT initiative.

1. Network Time protocol and its relation to OSF DCE needs review. It is assumed that coexistence will be required for quite some time.

2. Subsequent versions must address further application and migration to ISO/IEC 10646 (Universal Multiple-octet Coded Character Set (UCS)). For now, UCS is treated as an exchange format option.

3. C++ needs further study for portability and use.

4. Network File System and its relation to OSF DCE's Distributed File System needs further study. It is assumed that NFS will continue to be used and that coexistence with DFS will be required when DFS becomes available.

5. This section will include a reference to the X/Open message queuing specification when it is available and consistent with SPIRIT specifications.

6. This section will include a reference to OSI TP Draft International Standard, Part 7: Message Queueing when it is available and consistent with SPIRIT specifications.

7. X/Open have a specification, XAP-TP, for low-level integration of OSI TP protocols. It is anticipated that only some Service Providers will, on some occasions, need to integrate OSI TP at this low level. (Vendors may use the XAP-TP interface to provide integration of their Communications Resource Managers with OSI TP, but such use is normally not expected to affect Service Providers.) Thus, XAP-TP is not included in this list of general-purpose Service Provider specifications.

8. X/Open have a specification, XA+, that describes an interface that will meet Service Provider requirements for the integration of communications resource managers; for example, RDA or CMIS communications resource managers. The specification shall not become a SPIRIT reference until outstanding technical issues have been resolved.

9. Until ISO/IEC 8073, PDAM 5, Non-blocking Expedited Data Service (reference working document ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 6 N8505) is available for specification by SPIRIT, Session Non-use of Transport Expedited Data Service shall be selected.

10. Printer management, software distribution, desktop management and distributed TP system management are areas of ongoing work on management services.