Revised Software Tag Standards Incorporate Industry Feedback (May 15, '07)



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Steven Russman, 734/930-1925
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Revised Software Tag Standards Incorporate Industry Feedback

ANN ARBOR, MICH. (May 15, 2007) – A committee of the International Business Software Managers Association (IBSMA) charged with drafting international standards for software tagging and identification has released a revised version of the standard that incorporates nearly 100 comments from industry experts and organizations.

The first draft of the tagging standard, ISO/IEC 19770-2, was released for public comment in January. The IBSMA SAM Standards Committee received 137 comments on the draft ranging from calls to elaborate on conformance details to requests for an implementation guide.

“We are indebted to all individuals and organizations that volunteered their time to participate in this painstaking public review,” said IBSMA Executive Director Steven Russman. “We knew the industry would take a major interest in these groundbreaking standards because they will ultimately affect the practices of software manufacturers and developers, as well as SAM tool providers, and of course, IT professionals.”

Although the SAM Standards Committee has more comments it expects to incorporate into the refined draft, it presented the draft for review to an international working group on software asset management (Working Group 21) on May 7.

A final version of the standard is expected this fall.

The standard will be a giant leap forward in software asset identification and management, said Russman. Some of the major benefits of these international tag standards are:

> Improved inventory identification enhances asset managers’ ability to provide details regarding software origination, modification, dependencies and operating system platforms.

> Manufacturers, publishers and vendors will make software that is easy to identify, install and use.

> SAM tool providers should be able to free more resources to enhance best practices and improve product lines by virtue of the improvements made in software identification via tagging standardization.

The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) appointed the IBSMA to draft worldwide industry standards for software tagging and labeling in October 2006.

The revised ISO/IEC 19770-2 is available for download at: http://www.ecpmedia.com/publications.html


About IBSMA

IBSMA, the International Business Software Managers Association, is a division of ECP. IBSMA is an international association of business-focused SAM professionals working together on issues of common concern. ECPweb.com (ECP) is the innovative leader in news and reviews of technology asset, IT service and software asset management issues, practices and tools. ECP publishes Tools Manager, Software Manager, IT Service Manager and other industry-leading guides and reports.