A vendor of HA (high-availability) middleware is shipping what it claims to be the first usable implementation of a specification aimed at standardizing the interface between software and HA middleware. SAFfire 2.0 combines GoAhead's flagship SelfReliant middleware with its implementation of the SA Forum's AIS (application interface specification), release B.02.

AIS is one of several SA Forum standards aimed at defining standardized middleware interfaces. Other SA Forum specs include SMI (system/storage management interface) and HPI (hardware platform interface) — said to have been widely adopted.

SAForum's AIS diagram
(Click to enlarge)
GoAhead hopes SAFfire 2.0 will catch on with both telecom and defense customers. Customers from both markets have trialed the product, the vendor said.

CEO Jim Ewel stated, “GoAhead SAFfire is the first AIS implementation that is ready for deployment.”

VDC analyst Eric Heikkila stated, “The early interest in GoAhead SAFfire exemplifies the value TEMs and NEPs are realizing by utilizing commercial-off-the-shelf components. GoAhead SAFfire 2.0 is a comprehensive and complete AIS implementation, including the Availability Management Framework and seven of the eight published services.”

Magnus Karlson, technical chair of the SA Forum added, “With wide industry adoption of HPI, TEMs, and NEPs are realizing the value that open standards-based service availability solutions offer. Products such as GoAhead SAFfire, which features virtually all of the AIS services, are fundamental in enabling a similar eco-system for such products.”

GoHead said it helped found the SA Forum, and noted that its CTO/COO, Dr. Asif Naseem, currently serves as the group's president. Additionally, the company claimed its flagship SelfReliant middleware has been deployed over 20,000 times.

Today's news of an available AIS B.02 implementation was accompanied by statements of support from representatives of Intel, IBM, Motorola, Nokia, Nortel, Performance Technologies, RadiSys, Solid, and Wind River.

Availability

SAFfire 2.0 appears to be immediately available (so to speak).

Steven Dake, of Red Hat, has this plate (Click to enlarge)

Embedded Linux vendor MontaVista earlier touted a BSD-licensed AIS implementation based in part on work from the Linux Foundation's (formerly OSDL's) OpenAIS project. The OpenAIS project appears to have updated its “production-ready” release late last year.

---

 
This article was originally published on LinuxDevices.com and has been donated to the open source community by QuinStreet Inc. Please visit LinuxToday.com for up-to-date news and articles about Linux and open source.