The Open Group Certification Exams

Needless to say that the Open Group is a global organization that helps achieve business goals through the standards of IT. There are over 500 member companies that are involved in the process of development of the Open Group. It may seem that not all the sectors of the IT community are covered. But this is a fault. Indeed, systems and solutions suppliers, customers, tool vendors, consultants and integrators (add here also researches and academics) are brought into play. A general goal consists of several points, such as:

• To understand, capture and address current and new objectives, and establish policies and share best practices
• To facilitate functional compatibility, develop agreement, and evolve and integrate specifications as well as open source technologies
• To prepare a complete collection of services to reinforce the operational efficiency of consortia
To launch the industry’s first certification service

Just for the record, by the early 1990s, the major UNIX system vendors had begun to realize that the standards competitions (usually called the Unix wars) were inflicting all participants more injury than good, making the UNIX industry open to arising rivalry from Microsoft company. Let’s take it for granted that the COSE initiative in 1993 was considered to be the first and unique unification step and the merger of the Open Software Foundation (OSF) and X/Open in 1996 as the last step in the end of those encounters. In advance, OSF had amalgamated with UNIX International in 1994, meaning that the new entity effectively described all elements of the Unix community of the time.

Perhaps we should also point out the fact that in January 1997, the amenability to the X Window System was transferred to The Open Group from the defunct X Consortium. In 1999, X.Org was built to manage the X Window System, with management services provided by The Open Group. By the way, the X.Org members made a number of releases up to and including X11R6.8 while The Open Group supported management services. In fact, only in 2004, X.Org and The Open Group started to work together in order to establish the newly created X.Org Foundation. After that this new organization took control of the x.org domain name, and the management of the X Window System. (For more information see the history of the X Window System.)

Finally, let’s talk about the mission of The Open Group. It implies the responsibility to drive the creation of Boundaryless Information Flow™ achieved 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
• Developing and operating the industry's premier certification service and encouraging procurement of certified products

The members, participating in The Open Group through extremely influential Forums and Work Groups, address an all-round range of technical, business, regulatory and legal issues. Each Open Group Forum and Work Group specializes in a specific area, and provides legal environment where members collaborate on developing standards not to miss their tip, certifications and best practices in their areas of expertise and interest.

As a result of this participation, members of The Open Group may have early access to the latest data concerning IT standards and industry developments, and provides useful insights that inform their organization’s direction and strategy. Members of The Open Group also enjoy benefits of the opportunity to:

• Network with a world-class community of professionals, peers, and industry leaders
• Share lessons learned and avoid serious market miscalculations and obsolescence
• Influence consequences that benefit their organizations
• Grow in their field of work, and heighten their credibility as industry thought leaders