The emergence of open system interconnection (OSI) protocols, as specified with the U.S. Government OSI Profile (GOSIP) Federal Information Processing Standard, provides both an opportunity for and a means of achieving interoperability within multi-vendor networks. The standard mandates specifications that will be met by a multitude of vendor products, with initial offerings already available. GOSIP will permit government agencies to gain better control over their computer network procurements, accruing greater and greater cost savings as the number of government computer networks increases.
