| Unstable acronym combo feared deadly |
Jun. 18, 2007
Mass hysteria erupted in the blogosphere today, when two leading technology standards groups joined forces to issue a press release containing over 50 acronyms. WARNING: Read on at your own risk!
DMTF and UEFI Forum Work Together to Advance IT Standards
PORTLAND, Ore. -- Two leading technology standards groups have joined forces to help developers speed deployment of standards-based solutions for the end-to-end management of distributed enterprise computing. The Distributed Management Task Force, Inc. (DMTF) and the UEFI Forum (UEFI) today announced a plan to align key technical specifications, thereby promoting interoperable management solutions to help lower costs and simplify operations in the data center.
DMTF is the industry organization leading the development, adoption and promotion of interoperable management initiatives and standards. The UEFI Forum is the leading industry group defining a new model for the interface between operating systems and platform firmware as well as interoperability between independent firmware components. The DMTF-UEFI alliance is uniquely positioned to drive adoption of new technologies throughout the industry.
Under the agreement, the two organizations will collaborate to align UEFI and DMTF specifications to enable products based on UEFI standards to be managed with DMTF management technologies. The specifications for alignment include SMASH, DASH, CIM, SMBIOS from DMTF, and the UEFI and Platform Initialization (PI) specifications from the UEFI Forum. The work will focus on incorporating requirements for modeling UEFI-compliant firmware implementations into system and firmware models developed by the DMTF. The organizations expect to see developers of computer servers, desktops, laptops, and operating systems, along with computer management tool companies, to be the first adopters of the joint specification work.
"Our open industry standards are key to cross-platform management in distributed environments," said Winston Bumpus, DMTF president. "We're pleased to work with the UEFI Forum to update DMTF specifications to work seamlessly together. This partnership will result in significant usability enhancements for end users to meet the needs of the marketplace."
"Adoption of UEFI standards continues to gain momentum," said Tony Pierce, president of the UEFI Forum, Inc. and technical evangelist, Microsoft Corporation. "The UEFI Forum brings together key companies for defining important cross-platform standardizations. This collaboration will help realize new levels of security, efficiency and platform management capabilities. This is the appropriate time for a working alliance with the DMTF."
The UEFI Forum will participate in the following DMTF work groups: Desktop & Mobile, Server Management, CIM Core Schema and PreOS, as well as the SMBIOS Sub-team. The DMTF will participate in the UEFI Specification Work Group, the UEFI Configuration Sub-team and the UEFI Security Sub-team.
About UEFI and the UEFI Forum
The Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) specification defines a new model for the interface between operating systems and platform firmware. The interface consists of data tables that contain platform-related information, plus boot and runtime service calls that are available to the operating system and its loader. Together, these provide a modern, well-defined environment for booting an operating system and running pre-boot applications.
The Platform Initialization (PI) specification defines the model for components used and consumed by firmware. The specification defines firmware driver models for hardware components as well as expanding the capability of run-time firmware components.
The UEFI Forum is the group responsible for developing, managing and promoting the UEFI and PI specifications. The UEFI specification is the evolutionary successor to the EFI specification. EFI 1.10, published in 2002, was the final version of EFI. All enhancements beyond EFI 1.10 are contained in the UEFI specification. Further information about the UEFI specification and membership opportunities can be found at http://www.uefi.org.
The UEFI Forum continues to work closely with other industry groups, notably the Trusted Computing Group (TCG), on defining firmware security protocols.
About the DMTF
With more than 3,500 active participants representing 39 countries and nearly 200 organizations, the Distributed Management Task Force, Inc. (DMTF) is the industry organization leading the development, adoption and promotion of interoperable management initiatives and standards. DMTF management technologies include the Common Diagnostic Model (CDM), Desktop and mobile Architecture for System Hardware (DASH) and Systems Management Architecture for Server Hardware (SMASH) Initiatives, as well as Web-Based Enterprise Management (WBEM) -- including protocols such as CIM-XML and Web Services for Management (WS-Management) -- which are all based on the Common Information Model (CIM). Information about DMTF technologies and activities can be found at www.dmtf.org.
Questions? Comments?
Talkback here
Related Stories:
(Click here for further information)
|
|
|
7 Advantages of D2D Backup
For decades, tape has been the backup medium of choice. But, now, disk-to-disk (D2D) backup is gaining in favor. Learn why you should make the move in this whitepaper.
4 Legal Reasons to Control Internet Access
The Internet is obviously a valuable resource for many organizations. However, many are exposed to legal liability concerns because they fail to control Internet access. Learn if you're safe in this white paper.
Rapidly Resolve J2EE Application Problems
Whether you are in the process of building J2EE applications or have J2EE applications already running in production, you must ensure that they deliver the expected ROI. Learn how in this white paper.
Load Testing 2.0 for Web 2.0
There are many unknowns in stress testing Web 2.0 applications. Find out how to test the performance of Web 2.0 in this white paper.
Build Better Games Online
For the game infrastructure providers, life is complex. Making money from games has become more complicated. Why? Find out in this white paper.
Building a Virtual Infrastructure from Servers to Storage
This white paper discusses the virtual storage solutions that reduce cost, increase storage utilization, and address the challenges of backing up and restoring Server environments.
Gaining Faster Wireless Connections with WiMAX
Welcome to what is quickly becoming the hyperconnected world where anything that would benefit from being connected to the network will be connected. Learn more in this white paper.
Is Your Desktop a Security Threat?
The new wave of sophisticated crimeware not only targets specific companies, but also targets desktops and laptops as backdoor entryways into those business’ operations and resources. Learn how to stay safe in this white paper.
Increasing SAN Reliability by 100 Percent
Storage area networks (SAN) are a strong part of storage plans. Learn how to increase your reliability and uptime by 100 percent in this case study.
|
|
|
|
|
news feed