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From: sjl@amdahl.UUCP (Steve Langdon)
Newsgroups: net.dcom,net.lan
Subject: Re: Communications Standards (long)
Message-ID: <1962@amdahl.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 29-Aug-85 19:00:49 EDT
Article-I.D.: amdahl.1962
Posted: Thu Aug 29 19:00:49 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 31-Aug-85 21:43:16 EDT
References: <1919@amdahl.UUCP> <472@petrus.UUCP> <166@rpics.UUCP> <1441@cbosgd.UUCP> <1953@amdahl.UUCP>
Organization: Amdahl Corp, Sunnyvale CA
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Xref: watmath net.dcom:1231 net.lan:1004

In my recent posting on communication standards <1953@amdahl.UUCP> I mentioned
that:
>The main reason for optimism is the work going on in the OSI Implementors'
>Workshops and associated efforts (MAP, OSINET, TOP, etc.).  A large
>number of companies have agreed to implement a common stack of OSI protocols
>(I can post details if people are interested).  If we can keep this
>momentum up, we may get working networks based on real standards.

After watching the continued discussion I decide that it would be a good
idea to post the details I mentioned.  Mark Horton referred to one of the pieces
when he mention AUTOFACT '85.  The other piece is the OSINET effort that the
NBS are organizing.

AUTOFACT is a trade show happening this November in Detroit.  At the show
over 20 companies will demonstrate a working internetwork based on OSI
protocols.  The network will include IEEE 802.3, IEEE 802.4 (5 and 10 Mbit),
and X.25 subnets all connected together by routers.  Protocols used include
those implied by the subnets (IEEE 802.2 LLC type 1 class 1, and X.25) and

1)	CLNP (the OSI version of IP)
2)	Transport Class 4
3)	The OSI Session kernel
4)	File Transfer, Access and Management (FTAM)

OSINET is an NBS organized, long term network for testing OSI protocol
implementations.  The participants (13 at last count - Amdahl is a participant)
will use a number of X.25 networks as a wide area backbone to allow ongoing
protocol testing and to exchange information about OSI.  The initial protocol
suite is the same as that used at AUTOFAC, but the goal is to add other OSI
protocols to the mix.

While these efforts do not represent a large running internetwork like the
Arpa Internet, they go a long way towards proving that the OSI protocols
are ready to make their way into products.

-- 
Stephen J. Langdon                  ...!{ihnp4,cbosgd,hplabs,sun}!amdahl!sjl

[ The article above is not an official statement from any organization
  in the known universe. ]