Changes at The Open Group Research Institute

Paul Dale to head the institute; Ira Goldstein returns to industry

The Open Group, the Cambridge, MA-based consortium for the advancement of open systems, has promoted Paul Dale to the position of vice president of The Open Group Research Institute (RI), with responsibility for all activities of the institute. The Open Group also announced that Ira Goldstein, previously head of the Research Institute, is leaving in mid-August to return to Hewlett-Packard.

The Open Group's Research Institute is an international research organization focused on investigating the fundamental software technology needed to improve the scalability, portability, usability and interoperability of computer systems. Funded by government and industry, the Research Institute works collaboratively with academia and industry to develop prototypes from which others can extract ideas and algorithms, validate performance or build products.

Dale formerly was on the staff of the Open Software Foundation (OSF)--now part of The Open Group--and had most recently served as vice president and director of the Research Institute, responsible for managing many of the day-to-day operations of the RI's Cambridge location. With the expansion of his role, Dale assumes complete responsibility for all facets of the Institute's mission and programs, for both the Cambridge and Grenoble, France, laboratories, reporting directly to Jim Bell, CEO of The Open Group.

"Paul has achieved a distinguished track record of leadership at The Open Group, building on the skills developed early in his career as a founder and vice president of development at Applix," says Bell. "I'm pleased to welcome Paul as an integral member of the senior management team, and I look forward to working more closely with him as the Research Institute moves into the future."

"As one of the founders of the Research Institute back in 1988, Ira has been instrumental in leading numerous efforts," says Bell. "His accomplishments are directly tied to several highly successful RI programs in areas such as the integration of enterprise computing with the Web, development of secure operating systems that achieve a B3 level of security and the design of distributed realtime facilities that support advanced Defense Department and other mission-critical applications. The quality of these RI programs has been reflected in their broad level of support from government and industry around the world. We look forward to continuing our close relationship with Ira in his new role."

After heading the Research Institute for eight years, Ira Goldstein will join HP as chief technology officer of its Computer Systems Organization, reporting to Dick Watts, vice president and general manager of the organization; and as Internet technology officer for HP's Computer Organization, reporting to Richard C. Beluzzo, executive vice president and general manager of that group. As CTO of the Computer Systems Organization, Goldstein will be in charge of formulating its technology architecture. According to Beluzzo, in his role as chief Internet technology officer, Goldstein "will drive the company's Internet technology strategy for business and consumer applications." Goldstein will be based in Chelmsford, MA, and will continue to work closely with The Open Group and the Research Institute.