ICL Technical Journal Volume 8 Issue 3
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ICL TECHNICAL JOURNAL Volume 8 Issue 3 May 1993 Published by International Computers Limited at Oxford University Press TECHNICAL JOURNAL The ICL Technical Journal is published twice a year by International Com puters Limited at Oxford University Press. Editor J.M.M. Pinkerton ICL, Lovelace Road, Bracknell, Berks RG12 4SN Editorial Board J.M.M. Pinkerton (Editor) M.R. Miller (BT Laboratories) P.J. Cropper W. O’Riordan (Northern Telecom Europe) A. Rowley D.W. Davies FRS D. Overkleeft (Holland) G.E. Felton E.C.P. Portman P. Galais (Symbol, France) D. Thomelin (ICL France) M.D. Godfrey T. Uehara (Fujitsu) (Stanford University) B.C. Warboys (University J. Howlett of Manchester) M.H. Kay H.J. Winterbotham F.F. Land (BNR Europe Ltd) All correspondence and papers to be considered for publication should be addressed to the Editor. The views expressed in the papers are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent ICL policy. 1993 subscription rates: annual subscription £60 UK and Europe and $120 rest of world; single issues £36 UK and Europe and $72 rest of world. Orders with remittances should be sent to the Journals Subscriptions Department, Oxford University Press, Walton Street, Oxford 0X2 6DP. This publication is copyright under the Berne Convention and the Inter national Copyright Convention. All rights reserved. Apart from any copying under the UK Copyright Act 1956, part 1, section 7, whereby a single copy of an article may be supplied, under certain conditions, for the purposes of research or private study, by a library of a class prescribed by the UK Board of Trade Regulations (Statutory Instruments 1957, No. 868), no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior permission of the copyright owners. Permission is, however, not required to copy abstracts of papers or articles on condition that a full reference to the source is shown. Multiple copying of the contents of the publication without permission is always illegal. © 1993 International Computers Limited. Registered office, ICL House, 1 High Street, Putney, London SW15 1SW. Registered in England 96056 Printed by The Charlesworth Group, Huddersfield, UK, 0484 517077 ISSN 0142-1557 5 ^1 TECHNICAL JOURNAL Volume 8 Issue 3 Contents Editorial iii French Translations of Abstracts v German Translations of Abstracts x OPENframework Foreword 349 An Introduction to OPEN framework R.F. Brunt 351 The Evolution of the OPEN framework Systems Architecture M.H. Kay 365 Creating Potential-for-Change G.D. Pratten and P. Henderson 383 OPENframework in Action at DEVETIR I. Craig 398 Strategic Information Systems Planning: A Process to Integrate IT and Business Strategies R. Thurlby 416 Describing Systems in the OPEN framework Integration Knowledge Base S. O ’Connor 438 Multimedia and Standards for Open Information I. R. Campbell-Grant and C.R. Smethurst 453 VME-X: Making VME Open P. Coates 473 Other Papers A New Approach to Cryptographic Facility Design J. Press 492 CHISLE: An Engineer’s Tool for Hardware System Design A. Jebson, C. Jones and H. Vosper 506 ICL Technical Journal May 1993 I Distributed Detection of Deadlock S. Hilditch and T. Thomson 520 Book Reviews 546 The ICL Computer Users Association 553 Guidance to Authors 555 ii ICL Technical Journal May 1993 Editorial Note ICL’s OPENframework is the main topic of this issue of the Journal. Eight papers of very differing scope give a picture of an approach that ICL believes will put users in a better position to meet their particular needs by inter linking hardware and software components chosen from the most suitable sources whether proprietary to ICL or not. As stated in the Foreword by Mr Andrew Boswell, Technical Director of ICL, the approach embodies not merely a universal architecture - conceived of as independent of any vendor - but is based on a philosophy of how to go about this process of integration, starting from an analysis of specific business needs. OPENframework also offers a substantial and systematically organised body of procedural advice and factual information. Obviously such a wide subject cannot be covered in full detail in one issue of the ICL Technical Journal but ICL has sponsored a complete series of books, now published by Prentice Hall, about different aspects of OPENframework. The introductory book in the series is reviewed in this issue by Annette Haworth. The full list of titles is given in the opening paper on OPEN framework by Brunt, in which he analyses the market trends which inspired the philosophy and architectural thinking of OPEN framework. The second paper by Kay is an account of how active and long-standing parti cipation by ICL in international discussions within the industry and with users of standards for Open Systems, led (by an evolutionary process which is still going on) to the architectural concepts of OPEN framework. Pratten and Henderson in their paper “Creating Potential for Change”, show how to engineer systems to allow for change in the future, taking account of the increasingly complex “value chains” found today in the IT industry. Two papers follow that exemplify ways in which the OPENframework approach may be applied in practice; Craig’s paper is especially interesting in that it shows how common objectives can be estab lished in a government authority (in this case in Australia) responsible for a range of activities that initially looked quite distinct. Thurlby describes a detailed analytical study of the business requirements of electricity distribu tion companies in the UK, though his conclusions are more general. As already mentioned, OPEN framework expects substantial information will be required about the characteristics of products that may be chosen as components of an integrated system. Obviously the structure of this informa- OPENframework is a trademark of International Computers Ltd. ICL Technical Journal May 1993 III tion will need to be carefully designed to make it both easy to refer to and unambiguous in use. O’Connor proposes a suitable abstract structure for this purpose. Campbell-Grant and Smethurst review multi-media technolo gies and indicate how information represented in a multiplicity of media can be specified in standard ways, with particular reference to OPEN framework. Finally Coates describes VME-X, an extension to the established VME operating system supported by ICL’s main frames to allow them to run UNIX-based software and so to work effectively in multi-user environments. Three further papers discuss a novel approach to the design of cryptographic systems, an engineer’s software tool to aid the design of hardware systems and two algorithms for the distributed detection of deadlock in distributed systems. This issue concludes with reviews of three books, one being the Introduction to OPEN framework already mentioned and the other two about New Technology in Police Work and X/OPEN and Open Systems. The Editor wishes to record his indebtedness and grateful thanks to Dr Michael Kay who, besides writing one himself, elicited and edited the other contributions on OPEN framework, to Colin Stretch for comments on those contributions, and to all authors for their papers and great readiness to respond to many editorial comments. iv ICL Technical Journal May 1993 Resumes R. F. Brunt Manager, OPEN framework Systems Architecture, ICL, West Gorton, Manchester, Royaume-Uni Introduction a OPEN framework OPENframework repond aux besoins de simplification, de structure et de methode des acquereurs de technologie de l’information. Ces besoins decoulent de trois facteurs interdependants, a savoir l’etat de maturite du secteur informatique, le deplacement de la fonction d’integration des systemes chez l’acheteur, et l’utilisation de l’informati- que a l’avantage de l’entreprise. Cet article explique comment ces facteurs sont pris en compte par les divers aspects d’OPEN framework; il presente; ses perspectives, qualites, elements et specialisations; l’architecture d’entreprise, et les techniques d’etude des processus de gestion avec la base de connaissances. Michael H. Kay ICL Fellow, Reading, Royaume-Uni L'evolution d ’OPEN framework Cet article decrit la pensee qui a influence le developpement d’OPEN/ramewor/c, l’architecture des systemes informatiques d’ICL. II explique 1’evolution d'OPENframework en quatre grandes phases, couvrant l’interfonctionnement, la portability, l’integration des systemes et, enfin, l’alignement strategique avec la gestion d’entreprise. Cet article n’est pas conqu comme une enumeration chronologique d’evenements. II est plutot destine a expliquer la signification historique d'OPENframework pour ICL, au moment meme ou la societe, d’un constructeur de gros systemes proprietaries, devient un integrateur, en utilisant des systemes ouverts comme moyen de rendre la technologie informatique mieux adaptee aux besoins de ses entreprises clientes. Graham D. Pratten Company Architect, Potential-for-Change, OPENframework Division, ICL Peter Henderson Department of Electronics and Computer Science, University of Southampton, ICL Visiting Fellow Creation du potentiel de changement Le potentiel de changement est la capacite d’un produit a evoluer pour repondre aux demandes de nouveaux marches et exploiter de nouvelles opportunities techni ques. Cet article etudie comment l’industrie informatique confere cette qualite aux produits qu’elle developpe et aux systemes utilisateur dans lesquels ils sont integres. ICL Technical Journal May 1993 v II concentre son attention sur les chaines de valeurs et les processus qui sont utilises dans les produits et systemes informatiques en cours de developpement et en evolu tion, et envisage comment il est possible de les orienter vers le changement. II etudie brievement comment les produits et systemes proprement dits peuvent adopter des architectures orientees vers le changement, qui leur permettent d’evoluer de maniere souple. II termine par un regard sur les moteurs du changement dans les entreprises utilisatrices qui generent le besoin du potentiel de changement.