Motorola is initiating a new open source project to develop a high availability operating environment based on Service Availability Forum (SA Forum) standards. The objective of the new “OpenSAF” project is to accelerate broad adoption of an SA Forum compliant operating environment.
The goals of the OpenSAF project are to:
- Create an open source implementation of a high availability operating environment which includes the SA Forum Application Interface Specification (AIS)
- Develop additional complementary services necessary to deploy and manage the software
- Accelerate the development of SA Forum specifications by proposing enhancements implemented in the OpenSAF project
- Establish a broadly adopted high availability operating environment that can be leveraged by computing technology companies, NEPs, and other industries requiring high availability, and ISVs
- Utilize an open source licensing model not tied to any commercial implementation.
Motorola said OpenSAF will enable network equipment providers (NEPs) to leverage the implementation of a deployed high availability software platform with the knowledge that enhancements will be proposed to the SA Forum for inclusion in future open specifications.
This would help service providers lower operating costs by using a common software platform across multiple types of equipment. Common predictive actions and common provisioning and monitoring interfaces will help reduce training and specialization, enabling service providers to use their resources more flexibly, efficiently and productively.
Other vendors endorsing the OpenSAF initiative include Ericsson, Nokia, Nortel, OKI, and Siemens Networks.
Several providers of computing and communications technology also have indicated support for the OpenSAF initiative including Interphase, MontaVista Software, and Wind River.
Both Motorola and Ericsson will contribute resources from the beginning of the initiative to enhance the open source product and accelerate the development and deployment of SA Forum specifications based on industry requirements. Motorola initially will contribute its NetPlane Core Service (NCS) software to the OpenSAF project. NCS is a complete operating environment that includes SA Forum services and a complementary set of required services necessary for a deployable implementation.
The first release of the open source code base will be made available by end of 2nd quarter on the OpenSAF Web site.
About SCOPEhttp://www.opensaf.org/