OMG Internet PSIG

Minutes of Meeting #29


Burlingame, California
September 11-12, 2000

Co-Chairs: Craig Thompson and Shel Sutton

Internet SIG Homepage:  http://www.objs.com/isig/home.htm

OMG document: internet/00-09-01

Minutes:  Craig Thompson

Attendees

Summary

Internet SIG used this meeting to decide its next steps. Having run as a successful SIG for four years, it has accomplished many sorts of things for OMG (see the homepage for details) But for some time, the chairs’ funding has been taking them in other directions so we used this meeting to assess whether there continues to be interest in how the OMG connects to the Internet and Web (in newer ways than the ways OMG is already pursuing in several other subgroups already).  There is still general interest in how to insert OMG as the middleware to escalate the web to going being its document centric current nature to supporting Enterprise integration.  But the flip side is that the technology of the Internet and Web is just too big, broad, and defocused to really mobilize a specific program of work under the Internet SIG.  The charter is too broad - as broad as IETF and W3C combined - so if it continues to exist, then Internet SIG is more likely either to focus in some subareas or continue to be a spawning ground for new groups at OMG.

After the morning’s discussion, we came close to deciding that OMG Internet SIG should go dormant for a few meetings (no meetings until Paris) and allow Agents WG and CSCW WG time to become affiliated with other groups or become SIGs. Then sunset the Internet SIG.

About mid morning Harri Kreus joined the discussion. He talked about the need for something like the Internet SIG to take the next step into the wireless world of pervasive mobility and distributed devices everywhere. In Europe, Info Systems, Data Communications, and Telecommunications are groups that have convergent needs. Europe is moving to 3rd generation mobile phones with Internet capability that is pervasive - a mobile revolution. They want more than mobility - they want a multi distribution mobile architecture framework, want web, wap, pc-clients, digiTV, proprietry (military, CDA) all to work seamlessly. Also they want location dependent services and generalizing, situation dependent services.

The long and short was, Harri agreed to organize a next Internet SIG meeting in Orlando around the themes of mobility, perhaps in conjunction with other groups like Agents also working on mobility. So watch this space - either Internet SIG will rise from the ashes with a revitalized mission for the new wireless ubiquitous computing world coming soon, or it will spawn off a mobility working group that may get attached somewhere else (agents sig?).  We will at least have an interesting and productive next meeting or two.

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