Chapter TWENTY. Standards and ESA

The global Internet has emerged as the ubiquitous communication medium for individuals and businesses alike. In order for this pervasive network to reach its full potential, interoperability between all connected computer systems is required. This pervasive network has increased the value of setting and adopting standards for everyone. And with a few exceptions here and there, the large technology companies that have the power to promote and enforce standards are coming to agreement on many key standards to a degree that has never been seen before.

In fact, out of frustration, the major players have changed the way standards are created. The old waycommittees at standards bodies slogging through a lengthy and highly politicized design processhas given way to one in which technical committees composed of interested and motivated parties work fast and then make formal proposals to standards organizations. Without this mechanism, in fact, the Internet might never have escaped its original setting as a network available only to computer researchers and other scientists.

Large players such as IBM, Sun, Microsoft, and SAP have donated technology to the public domain to encourage standards setting, or have agreed to combine their disparate approaches. They have even created open community processes to gain active participation and buy-in from customers and partners.

This chapter is about how standards affect all layers of the ESA stack and, more importantly, how ESA can bring IT standards to life in a way that provides enormous business value to customers.