Another Unix unification initiative, similar in vein to the Common Open Software Environment, has been formed to define specifications for Unix systems administration and storage management technologies. The organisation, called the Data Management Interface Group was announced a few weeks ago by 33 Unix hardware and software suppliers – including large numbers of COSE supporters – to define and promote industry standards for data management products such as back-up and restore, file migration, compression, encrytion and monitoring. The Data Management Group specifications will also be included in parts of COSE’s distributed system administration definitions, called COSE III.
File compression
Founding Data Management Group members include Hewlett-Packard Co, Epoch Systems Inc, Hewlett-Packard Co, SunSoft Inc, IBM, Univel Inc, Unix Labs, Auspex Systems Inc, Transarc Corp, OpenVision, Unisys Corp, Santa Cruz Operation Inc and Silicon Graphics Inc. The Data Management Group is currently drawing up its first specification on file compression, performance management and analysis, and it is scheduled for release by the end of the summer. According to Data Management Group chairman Ross Garber, the application programming interfaces will be integrated natively on specific operating systems including Solaris, HP-UX, OSF/1, UnixWare, Santa Cruz Operation Inc Unix and AIX. The specification, like COSE’s Common Desktop Environment definition, will be submitted to X/Open Co Ltd for ratfication and XPG compliance, the group says. In the meantime, COSE’s systems management workgroup will use Data Management Group storage management specifications to define parts of its own COSE III efforts, for which a standard is due for publication in 1995. COSE’s own systems managment workgroup, which plans to publish distributed systems administration specifications in 1995, will use Data Management Group’s definitions for storage management parts of the application programming interface, Graber says.
