Gearing up for a busy year in 1996, the directors of The Open Group recently announced new changes in the group's organizational and management structure. Created in February by the consolidation of X/Open Co. and the Open Software Foundation (OSF), The Open Group is an international consortium of manufacturers, independent software vendors (ISVs) and customers dedicated to the advancement of open systems. The directors announced a new management team for research, management and marketing. They also appointed James Bell interim CEO of The Open Group and president and CEO of the X/Open and OSF organizations.
X/Open has also announced that founding president and CEO Geoff Morris is leaving the organization, although he will be retained as a consultant.
The Open Group management team that reports to Jim Bell includes Allen Brown, responsible for managing the business operations; Norma K. Clarke, overseeing finance and administration; Ira Goldstein, responsible for the newly renamed Open Group Research Institute; Mike Lambert, responsible for specifications, architecture and standards development; David Lounsbury, responsible for collaborative technology development; and Peter Shaw, leading the worldwide marketing and sales organizations.
As part of the consolidation, the marketing and sales groups of the two organizations have been unified. To increase the visibility of The Open Group and its products and services, Jeff Hansen of X/Open has assumed responsibility for worldwide corporate communications and brand marketing.
X/Open and OSF will continue to focus on their respective core competencies and strategic strengths. X/Open will promote interface specifications for various product categories. It will also certify and register products conforming to those specifications under the X/Open brand. OSF will continue to facilitate collaboration among customers, system vendors and software vendors toward the development of new open systems technologies.
At the same time, the two groups will expand their objectives under The Open Group's umbrella. During 1996, The Open Group will be dedicated to new product introductions in key tactical areas (security, interoperability, distributed systems management, architecture, the Internet and the World Wide Web); a common documentation project; advanced research and development; distribution of information and tools to customers; and collaboration with other open systems-based organizations, such as the UniForum Association, Object Management Group (OMG), World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), UnixWare Technology Group (UTG) and Petrotechnical Open Software Corp. (POSC).
"This should be a tremendous year for X/Open, OSF and The Open Group," said James Bell. "By leveraging the skills and expertise of both organizations, The Open Group will have a strong, experienced executive team that will lead us in fulfilling our expanded mission."
Bell also commented on the departure of Geoff Morris. "Geoff was involved with X/Open from the very beginning, and he has played a major role in advancing open systems. His contributions will leave a lasting, positive mark on the industry."
Glenn Johnson, chairman of the board of X/Open, added his own praise for Morris' contributions. "His continuing leadership has been an essential factor in the creation of The Open Group, the combined organizations of X/Open Co. and the Open Software Foundation."
Morris will be retained by both X/Open and The Open Group as a consultant. He also plans to focus on new markets in the Internet and the World Wide Web, specifically in the area of electronic commerce. Speaking of his years at X/Open, Morris said, "I'm very proud to have played a role in the massive market shift [toward open systems] which has benefited countless IT user organizations."
The Open Group will maintain its U.S. headquarters in Cambridge, MA, with European headquarters in Reading, England and offices in Menlo Park, CA; Washington, DC; Brussels; Grenoble, France; and Tokyo.