A draft of a new specification has been published that will define a consistent way of expressing how computer networks, applications, servers and other IT resources are described or modeled. Companies collaborating on the specification include Sun, BEA Systems, BMC Software, Cisco Systems, Dell, EMC, HP, IBM Corp, Intel and Microsoft.

The new Service Modeling Language (SML) is based on XML, and on the System Definition Model that was developed by Microsoft. SML supports rich constraints.

A benefit of the language is to offer a standard way for application developers to communicate with the network, for instance allowing it to request additional servers.

"SML aims to address a growing industry need as a result of the numerous methods of representing the same IT resource," according to CXOtoday.com. The problems that arise are that the tools and management applications will use different formats, and they don't speak the same language. "This requires information to be translated, which can lead to loss or misinterpretation of technical details."

"The SML specification aims to provide simplicity, integration and compatibility throughout the life cycle for all components of an IT environment." [...read more...]

		fullsource
Print Email Current Profile Archive Blog Generate newsletter