Note: Many topics at this site are reduced versions of the text in "The Encyclopedia of Networking and Telecommunications." Search results will not be as extensive as a search of the book's CD-ROM.

The Open Group is an international consortium of vendors, government agencies, and educational institutions that develops standards for open systems. It was formed in 1996 as the holding company for OSF (Open Software Foundation) and X/Open Company, Ltd. Under the Open Group umbrella, the two organizations work together to deliver technology innovations and widespread adoption of open systems specifications.

The Open Group is involved in testing and certification of products to assure that they conform to specification. Conforming products receive the Open Brand mark to signify that they fulfill all the criteria of open computing.

TOGAF (The Open Group Architectural Framework) is an architectural framework that provides a tool for developing a broad range of different IT architectures. TOGAF enables IT staff to design, evaluate, and build the right architecture for an organization. TOGAF includes a foundation architecture of generic services and functions, and a development model that provides a road map for developing a custom architecture. TOGAF is built around the SIB (standards information base), which is a collection of National and International Standards, certain proprietary standards, and Open Group technical standards that have been scrutinized by and adopted by the Open Group. A listing is located at http://www.opengroup.org/sib.htm.

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