Open Software Foundation Adds Six New Members

By Gary McCormack and Janice Brown and Lisa Leonard
Business Wire

August 2, 1988

Lawrence, MA -- The Open Software Foundation (OSF) Tuesday announced the addition of six companies as new members to the international organization.

OSF is dedicated to the development and delivery of an open, portable software environment for the benefit of the information processing industry. OSF's mission is to provide the industry's first member-sponsored research and development organization aimed at bringing global acceptance to a single standard for open software. OSF membership provides vendors and users with input and early access to specifications and code.

The new member companies are: Adobe Systems, Altos Computer Systems, The Mitre Corp., Stratus Computer Inc., Tecsiel S.p.A. and Toshiba America Inc.

"Membership is the cornerstone to the success of the Open Software Foundation, and we are pleased that these six companies have joined," said OSF president Henry Crouse. "The new members represent a wide variety of hardware and software interests that will add depth to the organization."

Adobe Systems of Mountain View, Calif., is the developer of the PostScript software used in electronic printing and publishing fields, and currently has software licensing agreements with more than 30 major computer and peripheral manufacturers.

Altos Computer Systems, based in San Jose, Calif., is a world leader in multi-user networked systems. Altos designs, manufactures and markets computer systems distributed in 70 countries.

The Mitre Corp., based in Bedford, Mass., is an independent, not-for-profit system engineering firm engaged in scientific and technical activities for the public benefit under contract to various government agencies. Mitre's command, control, communications and intelligence (c3i) activities throughout the Department of Defense are performed in a Federal Contract Research Center (FCRC) under the sponsorship of the U.S. Air Force. Additional work is performed for agencies in the civil sector of government.

Stratus Computer Inc., based in Marlboro, Mass., supplies a family of fault-tolerance, Motorola 68XXX-based, multi-processor computer systems for online transaction processing applications in brokerge, banking, manufacturing, retail/distribution, telecommunications and government. Stratus' XA2000 Continuous Processing Systems are marketed worldwide through its direct sales force and other channels, including OEM arrangements with International Business Machines Corp. (as the System/88) and by Ing. C. Olivetti & C., S.p.A. (as the CPS System).

Tecsiel S.p.A., part of the international IRI-Finsiel Group, is an Italian corporation dedicated to research and development of advanced technologies and tools for the computer industry and the data processing community. Tecsiel specializes in software technology, artificial intelligence, computer networks and system software.

Toshiba America Inc., Advanced Systems of Irvine, Calif., markets the T5100 portable personal-business system, as well as other computer and peripheral technologies. It is one of many divisions within Toshiba America Inc.

OSF membership is available to computer hardware and software suppliers, educational institutions, government agencies, end users and organizations around the world. Memberships are $25,000 a year for profit-making corporations and $5,000 a year for not-for-profit organizations.

Members contribute ideas on both technical and policy matters, are informed of foundation activities on a regular basis, and get numerous technical benefits and services relating to new product participation including early and equal access to new development activities.

The formation of OSF was announced May 17. The foundation has a management organization, staff and a funding commitment in excess of $100 million over the next three years. Its initial development will be based on technologies offered by the industry and on its own worldwide research efforts. OSF's interim headquarters are located at 20 Ballard Way, Lawrence, Mass.