For the next two years, the SQL Access Group will focus its efforts on getting the market to accept its its SQL standard specifications – the Call-Level Interface and Formats and Protocols – and not on technology development, it says. According to the Group, current specification development for technology enhancements will continue, but new technology projects have been put on hold for at least 18 months to two years. This year the organisation will unveil programmes for distributing copies of its SQL specifications and evaluating vendor products for conformance. A vendor technology reference programme for product testing will be introduced by year end and the SQL Access Group will embark on a sales campaign for the specifications. Other SQL Access Group goals for this year include increasing European membership and establishing a user council. It will also introduce a version of the International Standards Organisation Remote Database Access standard that runs over TCP/IP this spring. The current SQL Access Group version can interoperate only with Open Systems Interconnection protocols.
