GOSIP Version 1 – the Government Open Systems Interconnection Profile goes into effect in the US this week. It stipulates that vendors delivering on federal contracts must supply users with X400 electronic mail, File Transfer Access and Management software, X25-based wide-area networking and local-area networks that support the IEEE 802.3, 802.4 and 802.5 standards. Firms like Retix Corp and Touch Communications Inc, which specialise in Open Systems Interconnection products, are now in a good position to fill the gaps left by other vendors that are not able to deliver GOSIP-compliant systems, in a market that is reckoned could be worth over $1,000m by 1993.
