After being knocked back by at least one executive it had hoped to tap as a full-time president and chief executive, it is understood that the Open Group has got its sights trained on another candidate and is currently negotiating to bring him on board. The Open Software Foundation-X/Open Co Ltd combine has Jim Bell on loan from Hewlett-Packard Co in charge on an interim basis. The Open Group’s idea has been to hire a big league chief information officer-type capable of bringing representatives from the computer, consumer electronics, entertainment and telecommunications industries on to the Open Group board. The thinking is that industry-wide agreement and implementation of even a limited set of standards and technologies would enable companies to shave a percentage point or two off their data processing spending, freeing up enormous resources for re-investment and development. The Open Group had 10 European chief information officers come to a meeting of its executive inner circle of information officers earlier in the year. The meet was chaired by Barclays Bank Plc data processing supremo Joe De Feo. á
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