Joint revision of POSIX and Single UNIX Specification Approved

ISO/IEC and The Open Group announce international approval of the joint
revision to POSIX® and the Single UNIX® Specification 

San Francisco, CA/Geneva – November 14, 2002 – ISO/IEC Joint
technical committee has approved the joint revision to POSIX® and the
Single UNIX® Specification as an International Standard.  Designated as
ISO/IEC 9945:2002, the joint revision forms the core of The Open Group's
Single UNIX Specification Version 3 (IEEE 1003.1-2001, POSIX.1).

The standard reflects a collaborative effort of industry and formal
standardization within the Austin Group, currently chaired by The Open
Group's Director of Certification, Andrew Josey.  The initiative has
included a wide spectrum of participants from industry, academia,
government, and the open source community.

"The Open Group congratulates the members of the Austin Group for reaching
this land-mark integration of formal and industry standards," said Allen
Brown, President and CEO of The Open Group. "We are proud to work with the
IEEE and ISO/IEC in facilitating the merger of these significant
specifications, and adoption by ISO/IEC recognizes the importance of them
to the industry globally."

According to John Hill, Chair of ISO/IEC JTC 1 SC 22 which approved the new
standard, ISO/IEC 9945: 2002, Information technology Portable Operating
System Interface (POSIX ®), represents a milestone of cooperation between
ISO/IEC JTC 1, Information technology, and The Open Group. "The
collaborative efforts of these two organizations have proven to be
exemplary.  JTC 1's experts in POSIX have been working hard to bring
together the POSIX standards, with The Open Group's Single Unix®)
Specification, to unify the marketplace."

The quality and coherence of the standard, together with broad-based
support, make it a representative example of the success that comes from
standardizing open systems specifications. I think this project, and the
standard that resulted, are models that will show the way for many future
joint projects, all to the satisfy user needs."

"The ISO/IEC adoption of the merged IEEE POSIX specifications and the UNIX
specification recognizes the significant benefits to the industry and to
end users of the work of the Austin Group.  Their diligent efforts in
harmonizing the formal standards processes with the industry and the open
source community provide the assurance of this solid foundation continuing,
preserving the high value of investments associated with software systems,"
stated Judith Gorman, Managing Director of IEEE Standards.

The combining of the IEEE POSIX specifications and the Single UNIX
Specification into ISO/IEC 9945:2002 Parts 1 to 4 replaces the existing
ISO/IEC 9945-1:1996 (IEEE 1003.1, 1996 version), and ISO/IEC 9945-2:1993
(IEEE Std 1003.2, 1992 version).

ISO/IEC 9945 consists of the following parts, under the general title
Information technology Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX ® ):

Part 1: Base Definitions 
Part 2: System Interfaces 
Part 3: Shell and Utilities 
Part 4: Rationale

For more information, visit http://www.opengroup.org/austin. 

About the Open Group

The Open Group, a vendor-neutral and technology-neutral consortium, has a
vision of Boundaryless Information Flow achieved through global
interoperability in a secure, reliable and timely manner. The Open Group's
mission is to drive the creation of Boundaryless Information Flow by
working with customers to capture, understand and address current and
emerging requirements, establish policies, and share best practices;
working with suppliers, consortia and standards bodies to develop consensus
and facilitate interoperability, to evolve and integrate specifications and
open source technologies; offering a comprehensive set of services to
enhance the operational efficiency of consortia; and developing and
operating the industry's premier certification service and encouraging
procurement of certified products. More information on the organization can
be found at www.opengroup.org.

About ISO and IEC

ISO (the International Organization for Standardization) and IEC (the
International Electrotechnical Commission) are non-governmental
organizations that form a specialized system for worldwide
standardization. National bodies that are members of ISO or IEC participate
in the development of International Standards through technical committees
established by the respective organization to deal with particular fields
of technical activity. ISO and IEC technical committees collaborate in
fields of mutual interest. Other international organizations, governmental
and non-governmental, in liaison with ISO and IEC, also take part in the
work.
 
About JTC 1

JTC 1, the Joint ISO/IEC technical committee, works to develop, maintain,
promote and facilitate information technology standards required by global
markets. Established in 1987, JTC 1 is made up of 24 participating
countries with an additional 42 countries which participate as observers in
the committee's technical work. JTC 1 collaborates with ISO/IEC technical
committees and other management level groups as well as industry and
consortia. To date, the committee has published over 600 standards.

About The Single UNIX Specification 

The Open Group has been the custodian of the specification for the UNIX
system and the trademark since 1993. The effort that led to this transfer
was the catalyst for all vendors to make their systems conform to this
single definition, a goal that had been elusive in previous harmonization
efforts. Today all the major vendors support the Single UNIX Specification
and have registered product. For information on registered products see
http://www.opengroup.org/regproducts/. 

In keeping with The Open Group's policy of open and free access to its
standards, the standard is available at http://www.UNIX.org/version3/.  

For more information on the UNIX system and the UNIX certification program,
see the UNIX system web site at http://www.UNIX.org.  
For more information on version 3 of the Single UNIX Specification, refer
to http://www.UNIX.org/version3/

Note to editors: UNIX is a registered trademark The Open Group in the US
and other countries.