OVERLINE:

UniForum News

HEAD:

UniForum Picks New Director

DECK:

Tom Mace to lead Association at a time of opportunities

PULLQUOTE:

"My role is to see the organization through this evolution and expand its ability to serve its membership."

(PULLQUOTE AND PHOTO TO RUN OPPOSITE EACH OTHER IN 1ST SCREEN OF THE ARTICLE)

Tom Mace is the UniForum Association's new executive director, replacing Richard Jaross, who is returning to the private sector. He comes to us with nearly 20 years of experience in the computer industry. His accomplishments include leading the Unix effort of Convergent Technologies and serving as president of both the 88Open and PowerOpen industry consortia.

Tom shared his vision and opinions about the Association and the industry with *UniNews*. He is bullish about UniForum. "UniForum has a strong and growing conference and corporate training program for solutions for IT, as well as the annual trade show and exposition, which has been the focal point for the open systems industry for a dozen years," he says. "As the concept of open systems changes and evolves with new players and new needs from IT organizations and from our members, UniForum needs to change with that. My role is to see the organization through this evolution and expand UniForum's ability to serve its membership."

He offers a definition of what an open system really means. "An *open system* is one in which the interfaces are readily available to the computer industry as a whole, so that a large and vibrant third-party community can bring enterprise solutions in a truly comprehensive manner to users. It also means that there are choices available to buyers among the base technologies. We started out with Unix being the 'textbook' definition of an open system; now Unix, Windows NT and Novell NetWare each offer a viable choice to the marketplace for network open systems. This represents an unprecedented level of 'openness,' regardless of anyone's feelings about individual companies or players."

Going forward, Tom sees a crucial role for UniForum. "We must remember that UniForum is an individual member- and user-focused organization. That makes it unique in the open systems arena today. Our role is not to promote a particular technology or solution, but rather to educate users and buyers on the choices available to them and how those choices may best be used to everyone's advantage."

Mike Tilson, UniForum president, notes that the past and present executive directors are working together on transition issues. "We have been extremely fortunate to have the luxury of an overlap period, with both Tom and Richard Jaross on board working to ensure that everything goes smoothly during the change in leadership" Tilson says. He is enthusiastic about the new executive director. "We are glad that we've been able to retain Tom for this crucial time at UniForum. We will all benefit from his background and experience as a respected executive in the open systems community. Let's all welcome Tom to the UniForum family and join in thanking Richard for his contributions to UniForum and wishing him the very best on his return to industry."