At the 5th International Conference on the Application of Standards for Open Systems Interconnection, Kevin Mills, representing the National Institute of Standards and Technology, described the challenge of establishing a test policy and procedures for the U.S. GOSIP. He said that to "...serve as effective tools for establishing GOSIP conformance and interoperability of [computer] systems, the policies, procedures, and techniques must be technically credible, must be accepted by vendors and buyers, must provide assurance of interoperability, and should serve as a basis for international recognition of national testing." The challenge has been more difficult than we imagined, and yet, we have made significant strides to meet our goals. The following paper recounts our progress since March of 1989, describes the policy and procedures we now have in place, and looks ahead toward remaining challenges.
