OASIS (organization)
Encyclopedia
The Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS) is a global consortium that drives the development, convergence and adoption of e-business and web service
standards. With its headquarters in the USA, members of the consortium decide how and what work is undertaken through an open, democratic process.
Technical work is carried out under the following categories: Web Services, e-Commerce, Security, Law & Government, Supply Chain, Computing Management, Application Focus, Document-Centric, XML Processing, Conformance/Interop, and Industry Domains.
specification and specifications for fragment interchange and entity management.
In 1998, with the movement of the high tech industry to XML
, SGML Open changed its emphasis from SGML to XML, and changed its name to OASIS Open to be inclusive of XML and any future structured information standards. The focus of the consortium's activities also moved from promoting adoption (as XML was getting lots of attention on its own) to developing technical specifications. In July 2000 a new technical committee process was approved. With the adoption of the process the manner in which technical committees were created, operated, and progressed their work was regularized. At the adoption of the process there were five technical committees; by 2004 there were nearly 70.
During 1999 OASIS was approached by UN/CEFACT
, the committee of the United Nations
dealing with standards for business, to jointly develop a new set of specifications for electronic business. The joint initiative, called "ebXML
" and which first met in November 1999, was chartered for a three year period. At the final meeting under the original charter, in Vienna, UN/CEFACT and OASIS agreed to divide the remaining work between the two organizations and to coordinate the completion of the work through a coordinating committee. In 2004 OASIS submitted its completed ebXML specifications to ISO TC154 where they were approved as ISO 15000.
s for technologies under consideration in the standard. Like the W3C, which requires participants to offer royalty-free license
s to anyone using the resulting standard, OASIS offers a similar Royalty Free on Limited Terms mode, along with a Royalty Free on RAND
Terms mode and a RAND (reasonable and non-discriminatory) mode for its committees.
Controversy has arisen because this licensing allows publication of standards requiring licensing fee payments to patent holders, the use of which would effectively eliminate the possibility of free
/open source implementations of these standards. Further, contributors could initially offer royalty-free use of their patent, later imposing per-unit fees, after the standard becomes accepted.
Supporters of OASIS point out this could occur anyway since an agreement would not be binding on non-participants, discouraging contributions from potential participants. Supporters further argue that IBM
and Microsoft
shifting standardization efforts from the W3C to OASIS is evidence this is already occurring.
, i.e. OpenDocument) as a Senior Product Manager specializing in Office client interoperability - claimed that many countries have expressed frustration about the pace of OASIS's responses to defect reports that have been submitted on ISO/IEC 26300
and the inability for SC 34 members to participate in the maintenance of ODF. However, Rob Weir, co-chair of the OASIS ODF
Technical Committee noted that at the time, "the ODF TC had received zero defect reports from any ISO/IEC national body other than Japan", and that the one report that was submitted by them was handled promptly and to the satisfaction of the submitter.
, focusing on security.
Web service
A Web service is a method of communication between two electronic devices over the web.The W3C defines a "Web service" as "a software system designed to support interoperable machine-to-machine interaction over a network". It has an interface described in a machine-processable format...
standards. With its headquarters in the USA, members of the consortium decide how and what work is undertaken through an open, democratic process.
Technical work is carried out under the following categories: Web Services, e-Commerce, Security, Law & Government, Supply Chain, Computing Management, Application Focus, Document-Centric, XML Processing, Conformance/Interop, and Industry Domains.
History
OASIS was first formed as SGML Open in 1993 as a trade association of SGML tool vendors to cooperatively promote the adoption of SGML through mainly educational activities, though some amount of technical activity was also pursued including an update of the CALS Table ModelCALS Table Model
The CALS Table Model is a standard for representing tables in SGML/XML. It was developed as part of the CALS DOD initiative.-History and Rationale:...
specification and specifications for fragment interchange and entity management.
In 1998, with the movement of the high tech industry to XML
Extensible Markup Language
Extensible Markup Language is a set of rules for encoding documents in machine-readable form. It is defined in the XML 1.0 Specification produced by the W3C, and several other related specifications, all gratis open standards....
, SGML Open changed its emphasis from SGML to XML, and changed its name to OASIS Open to be inclusive of XML and any future structured information standards. The focus of the consortium's activities also moved from promoting adoption (as XML was getting lots of attention on its own) to developing technical specifications. In July 2000 a new technical committee process was approved. With the adoption of the process the manner in which technical committees were created, operated, and progressed their work was regularized. At the adoption of the process there were five technical committees; by 2004 there were nearly 70.
During 1999 OASIS was approached by UN/CEFACT
UN/CEFACT
UN/CEFACT is an organisation that makes international EDI Electronic Data Interchange standards for electronic trade documents in XML format.- UN/CEFACT History, A UN mission to support trade:...
, the committee of the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
dealing with standards for business, to jointly develop a new set of specifications for electronic business. The joint initiative, called "ebXML
EbXML
Electronic Business using eXtensible Markup Language, commonly known as e-business XML, or ebXML as it is typically referred to, is a family of XML based standards sponsored by OASIS and UN/CEFACT whose mission is to provide an open, XML-based infrastructure that enables the global use of...
" and which first met in November 1999, was chartered for a three year period. At the final meeting under the original charter, in Vienna, UN/CEFACT and OASIS agreed to divide the remaining work between the two organizations and to coordinate the completion of the work through a coordinating committee. In 2004 OASIS submitted its completed ebXML specifications to ISO TC154 where they were approved as ISO 15000.
Standards under development
The following standards are under development by OASIS technical committees:- BCM — Business Centric-Methodology, BCM is a comprehensive approach and proven techniques that enable a Service-oriented architectureService-oriented architectureIn software engineering, a Service-Oriented Architecture is a set of principles and methodologies for designing and developing software in the form of interoperable services. These services are well-defined business functionalities that are built as software components that can be reused for...
(SOA) and support enterprise agility and interoperability. - CAPCommon Alerting ProtocolThe Common Alerting Protocol is an XML-based data format for exchanging public warnings and emergencies between alerting technologies. CAP allows a warning message to be consistently disseminated simultaneously over many warning systems to many applications...
— Common Alerting Protocol, is an XML-based data format for exchanging public warnings and emergencies between alerting technologies. - CAMContent Assembly MechanismContent Assembly Mechanism is an XML-based standard for creating and managing information exchanges that are interoperable and deterministic descriptions of machine-processable information content flows into and out of XML structures...
— Content Assembly Mechanism, is a generalized assembly mechanism for using templates of XML business transaction content and the associated rules. CAM templates augment schema syntax and provide implementers with the means to specify interoperable interchange patterns. - CMISContent Management Interoperability ServicesContent Management Interoperability Services is a specification for improving interoperability between Enterprise Content Management systems. OASIS, a web standards consortium, approved CMIS as an OASIS Specification on May 1, 2010....
— Content Management Interoperability Services, is a domain model and Web services standard for working with Enterprise content management repositories and systems. - CIQCustomer Information Quality- History :On 11 October 2000 an OASIS Technical Committee has been formed to address Customer Information Quality.It had been proposed by Ram Kumar, Cognito, Inc; Vincent Buller, AND Data Solutions; John Bennett, Parlo.com; and Graham Lobsey, Cognito, Inc....
— Customer Information Quality, is an XML Specifications for defining, representing, interoperating and managing party information (e.g. name, address). - DocBookDocBookDocBook is a semantic markup language for technical documentation. It was originally intended for writing technical documents related to computer hardware and software but it can be used for any other sort of documentation....
— DocBook, a markup language for technical documentation. It was originally intended for authoring technical documents related to computer hardware and software but it can be used for any other sort of documentation. - DITADarwin Information Typing ArchitectureThe Darwin Information Typing Architecture is an OASIS standard XML data model for authoring and publishing. Many third party tools support authoring, including Adobe FrameMaker, XMetaL, Arbortext, Quark XML Author, Oxygen XML Editor, easyDITA, and SDL Xopus...
— Darwin Information Typing Architecture, a modular and extensible XML-based language for topic-based information, such as for online help, documentation, and training. - EMLElection Markup LanguageElection Markup Language is an XML-based standard to support end to end management of election processes.-History of EML:The OASIS Election and Voter Services Technical Committee, which met for the first time in May 2001, was chartered...
— Election Markup Language, End to End information standards and processes for conducting democratic elections using XML-based information recording. - EDXLEDXLThe Emergency Data Exchange Language is a suite of XML-based messaging standards that facilitate emergency information sharing between government entities and the full range of emergency-related organizations. EDXL standardizes messaging formats for communications between these parties...
- Emergency Data Exchange Language, Suite of XML-based messaging standards that facilitate emergency information sharing between government entities and the full range of emergency-related organizations - GeoXACMLGeoXACMLGeoXACML stands for Geospatial eXtensible Access Control Markup Language. It defines a geo-specific extension to XACML Version 2.0, as it was ratified by OASIS standards organization on 1 February 2005....
— Geospatial eXtensible Access Control Markup Language, a geo-specific extension to XACMLXACMLXACML stands for eXtensible Access Control Markup Language. The standard defines a declarative access control policy language implemented in XML and a processing model describing how to evaluate authorization requests according to the rules defined in policies.As a published standard...
Version 2.0, mainly the geometric data-type urn:ogc:def:dataType:geoxacml:1.0:geometry and several geographic functions such as topological, bag, set, geometric and conversion functions. - oBIXOBIXoBIX is a standard for RESTful Web Services-based interfaces to building control systems. Building control systems include those electrical and mechanical systems that operate inside a building, including Heating and Cooling, Security, Power Management, and Life/Safety Alarms that are in nearly...
— open Building Information Exchange, an extensible XML specification for enterprise interaction with building-based (or other) control systems, including HVAC, Access Control, Intrusion Detection, and many others. - OpenDocumentOpenDocumentThe Open Document Format for Office Applications is an XML-based file format for representing electronic documents such as spreadsheets, charts, presentations and word processing documents....
— OASIS Open Document Format for Office Applications, an open document file format for saving office documents such as spreadsheets, memos, charts, and presentations. - SAMLSAMLSecurity Assertion Markup Language is an XML-based open standard for exchanging authentication and authorization data between security domains, that is, between an identity provider and a service provider...
— Security Assertion Markup Language, a standard XMLXMLExtensible Markup Language is a set of rules for encoding documents in machine-readable form. It is defined in the XML 1.0 Specification produced by the W3C, and several other related specifications, all gratis open standards....
-based framework for the secure exchange of authenticationAuthenticationAuthentication is the act of confirming the truth of an attribute of a datum or entity...
and authorizationAuthorizationAuthorization is the function of specifying access rights to resources, which is related to information security and computer security in general and to access control in particular. More formally, "to authorize" is to define access policy...
information. - SDDSolution Deployment DescriptorSolution Deployment Descriptor is a standard XML-based schema defining a standardized way to express software installation characteristics required for lifecycle management in a multi-platform environment....
— Solution Deployment Descriptor, a standard XMLXMLExtensible Markup Language is a set of rules for encoding documents in machine-readable form. It is defined in the XML 1.0 Specification produced by the W3C, and several other related specifications, all gratis open standards....
-based schema defining a standardized way to express software installation characteristics required for lifecycle management in a multi-platform environment. - SPMLSPMLService Provisioning Markup Language is an XML-based framework, being developed by OASIS, for exchanging user, resource and service provisioning information between cooperating organizations....
— Service Provisioning Markup Language, a standard XMLXMLExtensible Markup Language is a set of rules for encoding documents in machine-readable form. It is defined in the XML 1.0 Specification produced by the W3C, and several other related specifications, all gratis open standards....
-based protocol for the integration and interoperation of service provisioning requests. - UBLUniversal Business LanguageUniversal Business Language is a library of standard electronic XML business documents such as purchase orders and invoices. UBL was developed by an OASIS Technical Committee with participation from a variety of industry data standards organizations. UBL is designed to plug directly into existing...
— Universal Business Language, National effort to define a royalty-free library of standard electronic XML business documents. All invoices to the Danish government have to be in UBL electronic format since February 2005. - UDDIUniversal Description Discovery and IntegrationUniversal Description, Discovery and Integration is a platform-independent, Extensible Markup Language -based registry for businesses worldwide to list themselves on the Internet and a mechanism to register and locate web service applications...
— Universal Description Discovery and Integration, a platform-independent, XMLExtensible Markup LanguageExtensible Markup Language is a set of rules for encoding documents in machine-readable form. It is defined in the XML 1.0 Specification produced by the W3C, and several other related specifications, all gratis open standards....
-based registryRegistry-Computing:* Windows Registry, a database of configuration settings in Microsoft Windows operating systems* Domain name registry, an organization that manages the registration of top-level internet domain names...
for companies and individuals to list Web Services. - WebCGMComputer Graphics MetafileComputer Graphics Metafile is a free and open international standard file format for 2D vector graphics, raster graphics, and text, and is defined by ISO/IEC 8632.-Overview:...
— Web Computer Graphics Metafile, a profile of Computer Graphics MetafileComputer Graphics MetafileComputer Graphics Metafile is a free and open international standard file format for 2D vector graphics, raster graphics, and text, and is defined by ISO/IEC 8632.-Overview:...
(CGM), which adds Web linking and is optimized for Web applications in technical illustration, electronic documentation, geophysical data visualization, and similar fields. - WS-BPEL - Web Services Business Process Execution Language
- WSDM — Web Services Distributed Management
- XACMLXACMLXACML stands for eXtensible Access Control Markup Language. The standard defines a declarative access control policy language implemented in XML and a processing model describing how to evaluate authorization requests according to the rules defined in policies.As a published standard...
— eXtensible Access Control Markup Language, a standard XMLXMLExtensible Markup Language is a set of rules for encoding documents in machine-readable form. It is defined in the XML 1.0 Specification produced by the W3C, and several other related specifications, all gratis open standards....
-based protocol for access control policies. - XDIXDIXDI is a generalized, extensible service for sharing, linking, and synchronizing structured data over the Internet and other data networks using XRI-addressable RDF graphs...
— XRI Data Interchange, a standard for sharing, linking, and synchronizing data ("dataweb") across multiple domains and applications using XMLXMLExtensible Markup Language is a set of rules for encoding documents in machine-readable form. It is defined in the XML 1.0 Specification produced by the W3C, and several other related specifications, all gratis open standards....
documents, eXtensible Resource Identifiers (XRIs), and a new method of distributed data control called a link contractLink contractA link contract is an approach to data control in a distributed data sharing network. Link contracts are fundamental to Dataweb technology and a key feature of the XDI specifications under development at OASIS....
. - XLIFFXLIFFXLIFF is an XML-based format created to standardize localization. XLIFF was standardized by OASIS in 2002. Its current specification is v1.2 released on Feb-1-2008....
— XML Localization Interchange File Format, a XMLXMLExtensible Markup Language is a set of rules for encoding documents in machine-readable form. It is defined in the XML 1.0 Specification produced by the W3C, and several other related specifications, all gratis open standards....
-based format created to standardize localizationInternationalization and localizationIn computing, internationalization and localization are means of adapting computer software to different languages, regional differences and technical requirements of a target market...
. - XRI — eXtensible Resource Identifier, a URIUniform Resource IdentifierIn computing, a uniform resource identifier is a string of characters used to identify a name or a resource on the Internet. Such identification enables interaction with representations of the resource over a network using specific protocols...
-compatible scheme and resolution protocol for abstract identifiers used to identify and share resources across domains and applications.
Patent disclosure controversy
Like many bodies producing open standards, OASIS has a patent disclosure policy requiring participants to disclose intent to apply for software patentSoftware patent
Software patent does not have a universally accepted definition. One definition suggested by the Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure is that a software patent is a "patent on any performance of a computer realised by means of a computer program".In 2005, the European Patent Office...
s for technologies under consideration in the standard. Like the W3C, which requires participants to offer royalty-free license
License
The verb license or grant licence means to give permission. The noun license or licence refers to that permission as well as to the document recording that permission.A license may be granted by a party to another party as an element of an agreement...
s to anyone using the resulting standard, OASIS offers a similar Royalty Free on Limited Terms mode, along with a Royalty Free on RAND
Reasonable and Non Discriminatory Licensing
Reasonable and non-discriminatory licensing is a type of licensing typically used during standardization processes. When joining a standardization body, companies normally agree that if they receive any patents on technologies which become essential to the standard they agree to allow other...
Terms mode and a RAND (reasonable and non-discriminatory) mode for its committees.
Controversy has arisen because this licensing allows publication of standards requiring licensing fee payments to patent holders, the use of which would effectively eliminate the possibility of free
Free software
Free software, software libre or libre software is software that can be used, studied, and modified without restriction, and which can be copied and redistributed in modified or unmodified form either without restriction, or with restrictions that only ensure that further recipients can also do...
/open source implementations of these standards. Further, contributors could initially offer royalty-free use of their patent, later imposing per-unit fees, after the standard becomes accepted.
Supporters of OASIS point out this could occur anyway since an agreement would not be binding on non-participants, discouraging contributions from potential participants. Supporters further argue that IBM
IBM
International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...
and Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
shifting standardization efforts from the W3C to OASIS is evidence this is already occurring.
Criticism
Doug Mahugh - while working for Microsoft (a purporter of Open Office XML, a document standard competing with OASIS's ISO/IEC 26300OpenDocument
The Open Document Format for Office Applications is an XML-based file format for representing electronic documents such as spreadsheets, charts, presentations and word processing documents....
, i.e. OpenDocument) as a Senior Product Manager specializing in Office client interoperability - claimed that many countries have expressed frustration about the pace of OASIS's responses to defect reports that have been submitted on ISO/IEC 26300
OpenDocument
The Open Document Format for Office Applications is an XML-based file format for representing electronic documents such as spreadsheets, charts, presentations and word processing documents....
and the inability for SC 34 members to participate in the maintenance of ODF. However, Rob Weir, co-chair of the OASIS ODF
ODF
ODF may be an acronym for:* OpenDocument format, a standard for electronic office documents** OpenDocument Fellowship, a volunteer organisation with members around the world to promote the use and development of the OpenDocument format....
Technical Committee noted that at the time, "the ODF TC had received zero defect reports from any ISO/IEC national body other than Japan", and that the one report that was submitted by them was handled promptly and to the satisfaction of the submitter.
OASIS Adoption Forum
In 27–29 November 2006 the third annual OASIS Adoption Forum was held in LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, focusing on security.