WBD.MDC@OFFICE-1.ARPA (William Daul / McDonnell-Douglas / APD-ASD) (03/06/87)
The US Government Open Systems Interconnection User's Committee, which was established by the National Bureau of Standards, is preparing a standard for the procurement of OSI products by Federal Agencies in the US. The draft of this standard, Government Open Systems Interconnection Procurement (GOSIP) Specification for the Fiscal Years 1987 and 1988, is currently being reviewed by government and industry. The purpose of the Government OSI User's Committee is to develop and maintain a Federal Government procurement specification for open systems computer network products. As such, the specification supports the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) pending policy, "United States Government Computer-Communications Architecture Policy". It is expected that the Administrator of the General Services Administration (GSA) will provide for the implementation of OSI according to the GOSIP specification. The NBS will issue this specification as a Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS), and the National Communications System (NCS) will issue GOSIP as a Federal Standard. Organizations contributing to the development of the GOSIP specification are as follows: Dept. of Agriculture Dept. of Commerce Dept. of Defense Dept. of Energy Environmental Protection Agency General Services Administration Health and Human Services Dept. of Interior Dept. of Housing and Urban Development Dept. of Justice Labor NASA NSF OMB Dept. of Transporation Dept. of Treasury National Communitations System This specification is based on agreements reached at the NBS workshop for Implementors of OSI. GOSIP is consistent with, and complementary to, the Manufacturing Automation Protocol (MAP) and the Technical and Office Protocols (TOP) specifications developed by industry. GOSIP addresses the need of the Federal Government to move immediately to multivendor interconnectivity without sacrificing essential functionality already implemented in critical networking systems. All capabilities described in the specifications exist as standard products or are close enough to market that they can be implemented by vendors. GOSIP is to be used by all Federal Government agencies when procuring data processing systems of services and communications systems or services. It is mandatory for all new network implementations and should be carefully considered for retrofits. For a period of two years, agencies are permitted to procure alternative interoperable protocols, by they must provide a mechanism for those protocols to interoperate with OSI protocols as well. GOSIP addresses communication and interoperation among end-systems and intermediate systems. It provides specific peer-level, process-to-process, and terminal access functionality between computer systems within and across government agencies. The primary source of protocol specifications used in GOSIP is the Implementation Agreements of Open Systems Interconnection Protocols, which is maintained by the NBS Workshop. Because the Workstation Agreements continue to evolve, GOSIP augments protocol and service specifications for the following sources, ISO Standards and CCITT Recommendations ISO Draft International Standards ISO Draft Proposed Standards Working papers within international standards bodies GOSIP's use of open systems standards minimizes the number of standards used while satisfying the diverse application encompassing government-wide needs. The specification provides a range of protocol choices at different layers. A subset of these protocols may adequately satisfy an individual acquisition requirement, and may be used. At least on lower layer technology must be used (i.e., CSMA/CD, Token Bus, or X.25). The following protocols are mandatory: the connectionless internetwork protocol, Transport Class 4, and Session Layer protocol. Transport Class 0 is to be used only in conjunction with public network messaging. The Presentation Layer protocol and Common Application Service Elements (CASE) are required for all applications except messaging. At least on Application Layer protocol is required to support the intended application. That is, if messaging is required, MHS will be specified; if file transfer is required, FTAM will be specified. The GOSIP specification will be revised annually and will be corrected or amended as needed. The current draft of GOSIP will apply to fiscal years 1987 and 1988. OMNICOM subscribers can obtain a cop[y of the draft (Dec. 18, 1987) GOSIP specification as an OMNICOM File.
slf@lll-lcc.ARPA@well.UUCP (03/07/87)
Thank you so much for the very detailed explanation. How does one go about getting a copy of this document? And is tha antipathy on Usenet universal, or do most people think it's ok?