Tech News - EDS, Opsware, Others Unveil Data Center Standard

Search Our Web Site

EDS, Opsware, Others Unveil Data Center Standard

10/14/2003

PALO ALTO, Calif. (Reuters) - A consortium of 25 high-tech companies, including services provider Electronic Data Systems and software maker Opsware Inc., on Tuesday unveiled the first set of standards for running large data centers.

Consortium members unveiled their Data Center Markup Language (DCML) Organization and standards in Boston on Tuesday.

The group hopes its new XML-based standards will become the foundation for utility computing -- the technology industry's push to better connect the parts in large corporate hardware and software systems so they run as cheaply and reliably as utility systems such as water and electricity.

DCML aims to make it much easier to integrate all of the components in a data center: servers, software, operating systems and databases, among other things.

Other companies involved in the effort include Mercury Interactive Corp., BEA Systems Inc., TIBCO Software Inc., Computer Associates International Inc. and NetIQ Corp.

Opsware, formerly Loudcloud, is the group's governing member.

Notably absent from the membership list are high-tech's largest U.S. companies, International Business Machines Corp., Microsoft Corp., Oracle Corp., Hewlett-Packard Co. and Sun Microsystems Inc.

Opsware Chairman and co-founder Marc Andreessen said he expects some nonmembers will initially oppose the standards but eventually support them due to customer demand.

He also said Microsoft, which has its own set of standards within all-Windows environments, will likely adopt DCML outside its proprietary orbit.

Partners in the data center standards movement will post specifications, or the technical description of DCML, on the Web in the first quarter of next year. Source code also will be made available for free on the Internet.

Opsware expects to ship its first DCML-compliant software in early 2004, with products from companies like CA and BEA to follow later in the year, Andreessen said.

News Archive

You are not logged in
Click here to log in
Click here to register

You have 0 items (0 products) in your shopping cart.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to the victims and survivors of recent tragedies, including the victims of 9/11, Hurricane Katrina and the 2005 tsunami in South Asia.

We would also like to honor those involved in the continuing and heroic efforts of helping these survivors and their families.

Please offer your support to the following agencies:

World Vision

Red Cross