Boeing is proposing an industry-wide, international consortium
to develop network communications standards for commercial aerospace
and defense, according to John Harms, director of business development
for Boeing's strategic architecture organization. "We've
brought in companies that compete with us," he says, "and
said, 'let's agree to make our systems interoperable.'" The
talks have included BAE Systems and Thales as well as Lockheed
Martin and Northrop Grumman.
Boeing's concept is based on making systems interoperable at two
levels: communications (analogous to a modem standard) and information
management, similar to an operating system. "These two layers
are less sensitive," says Harms. "We compete at higher
levels-applications, and how the system presents data." The
company is already using the same discipline to connect its own
systems together.
Boeing's consortium would also include major information technology
companies such as Microsoft and IBM and network specialists like
Cisco. "We're able to lead the consortium," says Harms,
but he acknowledges that a neutral leader-like the World Wide
Web Consortium (W3C)-might be more acceptable to competitors.
The consortium could be formed by the end of the year, says Harms.
