OASIS Solution Deployment Descriptor (SDD) TC

OASIS Forms Committee to Standardize Software Installation Characteristics for Lifecycle Management

Computer Associates, Fujitsu, HP, IBM, NEC, Novell, Sun Microsystems, Zero G, and Others Collaborate on Packaging for Distributed Application Environments

Boston, MA, USA. May 17, 2005.

Members of the OASIS international standards consortium announced plans to collaborate on a standardized method for expressing software installation characteristics required for lifecycle management in distributed, multi-platform environments. The new OASIS Solution Deployment Descriptor (SDD) Technical Committee will develop schemas to describe the characteristics of installable units of software, relevant for core aspects of deployment, configuration, and maintenance.

"In order to increase automation across the life cycle while preserving the option to deploy heterogeneous infrastructure platforms, standards for deployment, configuration and maintenance schemas are essential. This is an important piece in the broader picture of the agile business," said David Sprott, CEO of analyst firm, CBDI Forum.

"Currently, deployment and lifecycle management of interrelated software sets is predominantly a manual operation, because there is no standardized way to express installation packaging for distributed enterprise applications," explained Thomas Studwell of IBM, proposed chair of the OASIS SDD Committee. "Our work to define a standard for describing the packaging and the means to express dependencies and various lifecycle management operations within the package will alleviate these problems and subsequently enable automation of what are now highly manual and error-prone tasks."

The new OASIS committee will define XML schemas for SDDs, a package format to associate SDDs, resource content, and software artifacts. SDDs will describe the aggregation of installable units at all levels of the software stack as well as requirements of targets onto which the solution can be deployed. The resulting XML schemas will be partitioned to allow for layered implementations covering the range of applications from the definition of atomic units of software to complex, multi-platform, heterogeneous solutions.

"The SDD effort represents another exciting addition to the growing OASIS portfolio of standards work for the SOA and grid computing space," observed James Bryce Clark, OASIS director of standards development. "The OASIS SDD Committee will benefit by close association with developers of related specifications, including the Web Services Distributed Management (WSDM) and Data Center Markup Language (DCML), both of which are also being advanced within our consortium." Clark noted that the new OASIS Committee also plans to coordinate its efforts with activities of the Global Grid Forum (GGF), Open Services Gateway Initiative (OSGi), and Distributed Management Task Force (DMTF).

The OASIS SDD Technical Committee will operate under the Royalty Free on Limited Terms Mode, as defined by the OASIS Intellectual Property Rights Policy. The Committee's first meeting will be held 1 June 2005, and participation remains open to all companies, non-profit groups, and individuals. As with all OASIS projects, archives of the Committee's work will be accessible to both members and non-members, and OASIS will host an open mail list for public comment.

Industry Support for SDD

"Software deployment and IT life cycle management on distributed, multi-platform systems is fundamental to self-managing systems, and we are delighted with the formation of the technical committee to develop this essential standard," said Alan Ganek, CTO, Tivoli Software & vice president, Autonomic Computing, IBM. "We are excited to see IT leaders collaborating to assure interoperability across the industry and address customers' need for improved manageability."

"As a leader in multiplatform software deployment, Zero G is proud to be a principal contributor to the SDD specification," said Eric N. Shapiro, CEO at Zero G Software, Inc. "Our new SolutionArchitect product is the first of its kind to bridge the gap between development and operations, driving down software lifecycle management costs. SolutionArchitect uses the SDD specification to capture and communicate the requirements, structure, and deployment workflow of distributed enterprise applications."

About OASIS

OASIS (Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards) is a not-for-profit, international consortium that drives the development, convergence, and adoption of e-business standards. Members themselves set the OASIS technical agenda, using a lightweight, open process expressly designed to promote industry consensus and unite disparate efforts. The consortium produces open standards for Web services, security, e-business, and standardization efforts in the public sector and for application-specific markets. Founded in 1993, OASIS has more than 4,000 participants representing over 600 organizations and individual members in 100 countries. Approved OASIS Standards include AVDL, CAP, DocBook, DSML, ebXML, SAML, SPML, UBL, UDDI, WSDM, WS-Reliability, WSRP, WS-Security, XACML, and XCBF.

Additional Information

OASIS SDD Technical Committee:
http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/sdd

Cover Pages Technology Report:
"Standards for Automated Resource Management in the Computing Environment"
http://xml.coverpages.org/computingResourceManagement.html

Press Contact

Carol Geyer
Director of Communications
OASIS
Email: carol.geyer@oasis-open.org
Voice: +1.978.667.5115 x209

Prepared by Robin Cover for The XML Cover Pages archive. See details in the news story "OASIS TC Addresses Software Deployment, Configuration, and Lifecycle Management." General references in "Standards for Automated Resource Management in the Computing Environment."

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Members of the OASIS international standards consortium announced plans to collaborate on a standardized method for expressing software installation characteristics required for lifecycle management in distributed, multi-platform environments. The new OASIS Solution Deployment Descriptor (SDD) Technical Committee will develop schemas to describe the characteristics of installable units of software, relevant for core aspects of deployment, configuration, and maintenance. "In order to increase automation across the life cycle while preserving the option to deploy heterogeneous infrastructure platforms, standards for deployment, configuration and maintenance schemas are essential. This is an important piece in the broader picture of the agile business," said David Sprott, CEO of analyst firm, CBDI Forum. "Currently, deployment and lifecycle management of interrelated software sets is predominantly a manual operation, because there is no standardized way to express installation packaging for distributed enterprise applications," explained Thomas Studwell of IBM, proposed chair of the OASIS SDD Committee. "Our work to define a standard for describing the packaging and the means to express dependencies and various lifecycle management operations within the package will alleviate these problems and subsequently enable automation of what are now highly manual and error-prone tasks." The new OASIS committee will define XML schemas for SDDs, a package format to associate SDDs, resource content, and software artifacts. SDDs will describe the aggregation of installable units at all levels of the software stack as well as requirements of targets onto which the solution can be deployed. The resulting XML schemas will be partitioned to allow for layered implementations covering the range of applications from the definition of atomic units of software to complex, multi-platform, heterogeneous solutions. "The SDD effort represents another exciting addition to the growing OASIS portfolio of standards work for the SOA and grid computing space," observed James Bryce Clark, OASIS director of standards development. "The OASIS SDD Committee will benefit by close association with developers of related specifications, including the Web Services Distributed Management (WSDM) and Data Center Markup Language (DCML), both of which are also being advanced within our consortium." Clark noted that the new OASIS Committee also plans to coordinate its efforts with activities of the Global Grid Forum (GGF), Open Services Gateway Initiative (OSGi), and Distributed Management Task Force (DMTF). The OASIS SDD Technical Committee will operate under the Royalty Free on Limited Terms Mode, as defined by the OASIS Intellectual Property Rights Policy. The Committee's first meeting will be held 1 June 2005, and participation remains open to all companies, non-profit groups, and individuals. As with all OASIS projects, archives of the Committee's work will be accessible to both members and non-members, and OASIS will host an open mail list for public comment. Industry Support for SDD "Software deployment and IT life cycle management on distributed, multi-platform systems is fundamental to self-managing systems, and we are delighted with the formation of the technical committee to develop this essential standard," said Alan Ganek, CTO, Tivoli Software & vice president, Autonomic Computing, IBM. "We are excited to see IT leaders collaborating to assure interoperability across the industry and address customers' need for improved manageability." "As a leader in multiplatform software deployment, Zero G is proud to be a principal contributor to the SDD specification," said Eric N. Shapiro, CEO at Zero G Software, Inc. "Our new SolutionArchitect product is the first of its kind to bridge the gap between development and operations, driving down software lifecycle management costs. SolutionArchitect uses the SDD specification to capture and communicate the requirements, structure, and deployment workflow of distributed enterprise applications." About OASIS OASIS (Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards) is a not-for-profit, international consortium that drives the development, convergence, and adoption of e-business standards. Members themselves set the OASIS technical agenda, using a lightweight, open process expressly designed to promote industry consensus and unite disparate efforts. The consortium produces open standards for Web services, security, e-business, and standardization efforts in the public sector and for application-specific markets. Founded in 1993, OASIS has more than 4,000 participants representing over 600 organizations and individual members in 100 countries. Approved OASIS Standards include AVDL, CAP, DocBook, DSML, ebXML, SAML, SPML, UBL, UDDI, WSDM, WS-Reliability, WSRP, WS-Security, XACML, and XCBF. Additional Information OASIS SDD Technical Committee: http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/sdd Cover Pages Technology Report: "Standards for Automated Resource Management in the Computing Environment" http://xml.coverpages.org/computingResourceManagement.html Press Contact Carol Geyer Director of Communications OASIS Email: carol.geyer@oasis-open.org Voice: +1.978.667.5115 x209 Prepared by Robin Cover for The XML Cover Pages archive. See details in the news story "OASIS TC Addresses Software Deployment, Configuration, and Lifecycle Management." General references in "Standards for Automated Resource Management in the Computing Environment."