First Meeting Set for Interop Fall
SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 12, 1992 -- The APPI Forum, a groupchartered with developing and promoting the standardizationof Advanced Peer-to-Peer Internetworking -- an open, TCP/IP-oriented solution to SNA peer-to-peer networking -- has beeninaugurated by 13 leading computer and communicationsindustry players.
Founding members of the group, the first meeting ofwhich will take place at the fall Interop conference in SanFrancisco, include Alcatel, British Telecom, Cabletron,Cascade Communications, Cisco Systems, Digital EquipmentCorporation, Hewlett-Packard, Infonet, McDATA, Netrix,Proteon, SunConnect and SynOptics.
The APPI Forum is based on a concept, put forward lastmonth by router vendor Cisco Systems, Inc., which combinesthe sophisticated internetworking features of TCP/IP networks-- dynamic adaptive routing, high performance, and supportfor multiple media and protocols -- with SNA peer-to-peercommunication.
Michael Zadikian, Cisco SNA product marketing managerand acting forum organizer, said, "A key element of APPI isthat the specification will be open and free of charge to allvendors and users. It is critical for rapid deployment ofSNA peer-to-peer networking that development and control of asolution so important to the industry at large should restwith a group appointed by, and responsible to, the industry.The APPI Forum was formed to ensure openness and vendorinteroperability."
Specification By Mid-1993
The forum's broad goal is to submit a full APPIspecification to the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)by mid-1993. Official approval of APPI as a standard isexpected to follow approximately two years after thesubmission. A product demonstration is targeted for InteropFall in August 1993.Funding for the non-profit group will come from annualmembership fees paid by voting and auditing (non-participa-ting) members; fees are yet to be determined. All partiesinterested in APPI -- vendors, carriers, service providers,consultants and, in particular, users -- are invited to join.
The first meeting will be held on Wednesday, Oct. 28,2:00-6:00 p.m., at the Park 55 Hotel, Barcelona I Room, 55Cyril Magnin St., San Francisco. Founding members willclarify the APPI Forum's charter, set specific goals andtimelines, define committees and elect committee chairmen,and determine short- and long-term administrativerequirements. The session also will include an introductorytechnical presentation on APPI by Cisco.
Why They Joined: Statements from Founding Members
Bruno Potdevin, Director, Data Communication Competence Centre, Alcatel Business Systems Group: "Alcatel, thelargest European telecommunications provider, is joining theAPPI Forum as a founding member. Alcatel will share with theforum its experience of the world of telecommunications andknowledge of the SNA backbone, toward the goal of opening SNAto benefit end users. The APPI concept, which is standards-based and open to the industry, appears to offer greaterflexibility and provide a superset of networkingcapabilities."Chris Brown, BT/BC Data Products Marketing: "BT supports the APPI strategy as providing great flexibility toour SNA customer base. APPI is particularly important to BTas a national and international telecommunications provider.BT will collaborate in advocating APPI as an open standardboth benefitting users and aiding market acceptance of SNApeer-to-peer networking.
Tom Burkardt, director of IBM connectivity products, Cabletron Systems: "As part of our continuing effort tosupport standards-based networking environments, Cabletron isbecoming a charter member of the APPI Forum. APPI providesCabletron with an opportunity to preserve customer investmentin the large installed base of IP and SNA devices, and alsooffer an open and standard platform for peer-to-peercommunications."
Desh Deshpande, executive vice president of marketing and customer service, Cascade Communications: "The APPIForum will drive multivendor, multiprotocol networking to SNApeer-to-peer networking with speed and practicality that ischaracteristic of the industry consortia approach. This issynergistic with Cascade's track record of unwavering supportfor standards. Cascade will add value to APPI internetworksby providing traffic priority management, accountingfacilities, and congestion control through frame relay andATM."
Gail Daniels, director of networks marketing, Digital Equipment Corp.: "Digital's participation in the APPI Forumdemonstrates our continued commitment to offering customersnetwork, protocol and desktop independence. We provide andsupport open standards-based solutions that enable customersto fully integrate their networks across the enterprise --whether the backbone is OSI, TCP/IP,SNA or DECnet. With our business partners, Digital can deliver cost-effective, globalnetworks that preserve customers' investments todaywhile preparing them to meet the challenges of the future."
Gary L. McAnally, R&D lab manager, Hewlett-Packard Roseville Networks Division: "APPI has the potential toprovide a more open and cost-effective solution for SNA peer-to-peer routing. As an open standard, APPI will facilitatemultivendor interoperability and keep users from being lockedinto a single vendor. Based on established TCP/IP routingtechnology, it will hasten deployment by internetworkingvendors. In addition, the use of a unified SNA-IP routingmechanism will simplify the management and operation ofmultiprotocol internetworks."
Jean-Noel Moneton, executive vice president for products and services, Infonet: "The open APPI Forum gives us aunique opportunity to closely monitor the development of SNApeer-to-peer services over the TCP/IP protocol used in ourInfoLAN network. With APPI we could avoid deploying yetanother complex protocol over the InfoLAN backbone."
Jamie Zartman, senior business planner, McDATA Corp.: "The APPI Forum provides McDATA with an opportunity to helpestablish an open standard for peer networking. It fits wellwith McDATA's mission to provide our customers with the bestnetworking solutions for connecting IBM and open systemsresources. Based on available information, APPI shows greatpromise to further leverage the growing popularity of IPnetworks. The ability of these networks to accommodate both`old' and `new' SNA applications is only now beginning to beexplored."
Raymond D. Keneipp, vice president, marketing, Netrix: "Many of our customers have already consolidated their SNAnetworks and LAN internetworks over a Netrix backbone. Weare looking to the APPI Forum to develop industry standardsfor features such as class of service, security andencapsulation, enabling us to increase the level ofperformance and reliability that Netrix delivers to ourcustomers."
Paul Toldalagi, vice president of business develpoment, Proteon: "As an innovator and recognized leader instandards-based internetworking (e.g., OSPF and SNMP),Proteon is committed to delivering unsurpassed integration ofmultivendor LANs in mixed IBM environments, while providingsmooth integration and full IBM compatibility. In accordancewith our mission, and understanding that the charter of theAPPI Forum is to develop a truly open SNA peer-to-peernetworking architecture, Proteon will share its expertise byproviding the forum with innovative technologies enablingthis development."
Lloyd Spencer, product line manager for global connectivity, SunConnect: "APPI promises to offer IBMcustomers a cost-effective peer-to-peer routing solutionbased on an open standard technology that runs over TCP/IP.Because TCP/IP is becoming increasingly critical to IBMcustomers worldwide, SunConnect believes that APPI will alsobecome a key part of these customers' IBM networkingrequirements and strategic directions."
Ron Schmidt, chief technical officer, SynOptics: "SynOptics has always supported and provided open, standards-based networking solutions. Consequently, we believe effortsaimed at furthering an open standard like APPI can only helpaccelerate the delivery of real internetworking solutions tocustomers migrating from SNA to distributed computingenvironments."
To Join the APPI Forum...
Prospective APPI Forum members can obtain information onjoining the group by contacting the individuals listed belowat any of the charter member companies.Alcatel, Sandrine May, 011-33-1-4769-4908
British Telecom, Chris Brown, 011-44-71-380-2705
Cabletron Systems, Darren Orzechowski, 603-332-9400x1282
Cascade Communications, Bill Mitchell, 508-692-2600x250
Cisco Systems, Randall Sutherland, 415-903-8847
Digital Equipment Corp., Susan Ursch, 508-486-5198
Hewlett-Packard Company, Karen Dudley, 916-785-4699
Infonet, Doug Laurin, 310-335-2600 x2997
McDATA Corp., Larry Cornier, 303-460-9200
Netrix, Ellen Jennings, 703-742-6000
Proteon, Maureen McGregor, 508-898-2800
SunConnect, Kathryn Watson, 415-336-6851
Posted: Oct 21 00:30:53 1992
