PowerOpen To Close Its Doors

Mace Cites Market Preference for AIX Trademark

The PowerOpen Association in Cupertino, CA has announced that it will end operations by the end of this year. PowerOpen provides services, including PowerPC certification, for Unix software developers and vendors. President Tom Mace referred to the continued and growing popularity of IBM AIX, which supports PowerPC, as the main reason for disbanding. Since more vendors now use the AIX trademark in their products anyway, he says, the additional certification by PowerOpen is no longer considered a justifiable cost.

PowerOpen was founded in 1992 by Apple, Bull, Harris, IBM, Motorola, Tadpole Technology and Thomson-CSF to promote PowerPC architecture. The association now has over 200 members around the world. Over the past three years, PowerOpen has developed an open systems specification, the PowerOpen Environment (POE), which ensures binary compatibility among Unix-based PowerPC systems.

The POE combines an industry-standard application program interface (API) with an applications binary interface (ABI). The POE API defines the calls, library calls, and structural elements needed by a range of Unix applications. The ABI provides specification of the object formats and link structures, as well as installation and load parameters.

The association has also created a set of test suites and development tools to help assure that binary compatibility exists for both systems and applications.

Not according to plan

As originally envisioned, the POE standard would allow developers to create applications compatible across the entire PowerPC platform, thereby bringing the cost of application development down and supporting open systems development. Developers would receive certification from PowerOpen for compliance to the POE and, by extension, to all PowerPC-based products.

As it turned out, however, the market provided its own standard in the form of IBM AIX. "We actually accomplished most of our goals," says Mace. "But the market moved in such a way that the vast majority of our systems membership started licensing AIX from IBM and presenting it to the market in a trademarked fashion." Because of this, he explains, the need to bring additional assurance of compatibility was reduced. PowerOpen services were, in effect, already provided by IBM without the cost of supporting a consortium.

Chuck Linton, Director of Strategic Alliances at IBM, Austin, agrees with Mace about the basic success of PowerOpen. "Mace and his team did an excellent job of getting the ABI and test suites in place," he says. "We needed a standard, and they helped provide certification for the PowerPC platform. What we didn't anticipate was that so many vendors would start to use AIX and its trademark." AIX, he adds, offers not only a brand for binary compatibility but also strong market recognition, two important benefits for software vendors.

According to Linton, IBM is launching a new program called AIX Multiple Vendor Program (MVP) which will, in many ways, continue the work of PowerOpen. "AIX MVP will solicit feedback from vendors who adopt the ABI, collect suggestions about future directions for the ABI, and work with ISVs to encourage them to adopt the PowerPC platform."

Disruption for the market?

Neither Mace nor Linton feel that the end of PowerOpen should create any problems for PowerPC software developers, vendors or users. "Everything we are doing is expected to be available for the AIX market," says Mace, "so there will be no drop off in basic services or capabilities. It will simply be coming from another source."

Mace adds that PowerOpen is currently negotiating with IBM to use the association's technology and development tools. "Hopefully, all the benefits we've created will find a new life in some other form," he says. "There will really be no hiccup here at all."

Does Mace think the end of PowerOpen is a setback for open systems? "No. I see it as a very practical response to markets and the way markets run." He is confident that PowerPC will continue to grow. "They just won't be growing with us," he says, "and not in the way we originally envisioned the situation."

Mace remains philosophical about the end of PowerOpen. "It's important for people to realize that consortia are a response to addressing markets. You reach your goals and then get out of business. We've simply decided that at this point in time there are more efficient ways to go about branding for the PowerPC platform."