This book aims to provide software project managers, enterprise managers, systems and communications engineers, and product vendors with relevant and structured information on open systems and standards. It describes a framework for understanding the state of the art of standards. In that process, the author has produced a compendium of standards for open systems. Open systems refer to systems built using commercial off-the-shelf products or components. Open systems should be based on standards that specify the basic modules in terms of their reusability, interconnectivity, interoperability, and easy upgradeability. These specifications facilitate assembling plug-and-play hardware units using interchangeable elements like standard circuit boards, chips, interface, and so on. Open system standards promote proliferation of third-party products based on innovative ideas. More importantly, they reduce costs and shorten the product development cycle. They offer users an alternative to the much-dreaded “planned obsolescence.”

The first two chapters elaborate on the concepts of open systems and standards, and their crucial relevance to software developers. Chapters 3 through 14 cover 12 different areas of technology where standard compliance is critical for the lower-level components and the resulting higher-level end products. Each of these chapters discusses the framework for each of the technology areas: application, communication, data interchange, data management, distributed computing, graphics, operating system, security, software engineering, system management, user interface, and World Wide Web. Major standards in each area are discussed using a uniform template that consists of: the current name of the standard, the intended function of the standard, history, the organization responsible for the standard, current status, source for obtaining the specifications, Web site address for the standard, list of vendors and products, and other sources of information. The history of each standard often brings out fascinating pieces of information. The chapter on applications discusses six standards related to electronic business, including business process execution language for Web services (specifies business-process models, interaction, and protocols); business process modeling, notation, and language (defines standards based on Extensible Markup Language (XML) to provide a common notation and language for modeling business process); and RosettaNet (defines a suite of standards to support e-business exchanges). The chapter on communications discusses standards for asynchronous transfer, ethernet, Internet, voice over Internet protocol, Bluetooth universal mobile communication system, and wireless fidelity (Wi-fi), among others.

In the opening chapter, the author describes the vision for an open system as one in which a computer system takes care of the details of storage capacity, location of the remote server, characteristics of the communication channel, and so on, automatically. In the concluding chapter, the author identifies five key trends that highlight Internet and Web-based standards that are expected to accomplish the open system vision: high speed, ubiquitous communications; better security mechanisms; intelligent push/pull from datastores with capacities of petabytes; worldwide electronic collaboration; and seamless interfaces to networked applications, data, and computers. The haul could be long, but the direction is certain.

There are references at the end of each chapter. There is a list of acronyms and an index. For every standard discussed, an extensive list of Web sites is provided. The references are as recent as 2004. The writing style is brisk and elegant. The book is bound to become indispensable to project managers, systems and communications engineers, and chief information officers. The author has accomplished an admirable feat in compiling a mine of information.