Jim Presti of Boeing Computer Services told a similar story about Boeing’s experience. As an aircraft manufacturer with links to the US Department of Defence, Boeing has long had to comply with specifications for procurement such as CALS Computer-assisted Acquisition and Logistics Systems. However, with the planned reduction in military investment, the Department of Commerce is taking a bigger role in such national initiatives and in the switch to a more commerical perspective. Boeing has been using the Zachman Information Systems Architectural Framework, a methodology for analysis of the business processes within a company, based on a paper by John Zachman first described in the IBM Systems Journal in 1987. Presti claims that the Zachman model has assisted Boeing in the application of a tiered architecture for re-engineering applications towards open systems. While reluctant to quantify the relative importance of open systems within Boeing, Presti admitted that Boeing still has signficant investment in mainframes and mainframe software; growth in the mainframe field is being held steady however. A specific example of the application of standards-based software was in the development and use of a StyleGuide for Desktop Applications which enforces use of the Motif graphical user interface. Boeing has also announced support for the Intel Corp Paragon system which is to use the OSF/1 microkernel and will start shipping in June this year.
