Forwarded: Wed, 16 Aug 2000 22:20:57 -0400
Forwarded: "afs-contacts "
From: <stentz@us.ibm.com>
To: stentz@us.ibm.com
Date: Wed, 16 Aug 2000 21:52:12 -0400
Subject: Open AFS announcement
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Dear IBM Customers and Colleagues:

I am very pleased to announce IBM's plans to open source its AFS enterprise
file system under the IBM Public License (IPL).  We believe that making AFS
available to the open source community will help our customers to more
directly advance the pace of innovation in distributed file systems.  IBM
is announcing "Open AFS"  this week, beginning with press briefings at
LinuxWorld.  The official press release will issue next week, and the AFS
code will be available next month (September 2000).   Our technical and
management team at IBM are very excited about this project, and we are
hopeful that our customers will become very active in the AFS open source
initiative.

IBM realizes that while some customers will use Open AFS, many of our
customers will still require a commercially supported version of AFS.
Therefore,  IBM will continue to sell, develop and support its version of
"IBM AFS".   This will give our customers additional choices and
flexibility on how to deploy AFS in their environments.

I am very grateful for all of the efforts that went into the Open AFS
project, including many months of assistance from my colleagues at IBM and
from our loyal AFS customers.  Details of the announcement and a set of
"FAQs" appear below.  We welcome your comments at "sales@transarc.com".  We
will update the FAQ on the IBM and Transarc Web sites, but for now, their
content is identical to what is listed below.

Thank you for your continued support of AFS!

Laura

P.S.  We would appreciate your patience in awaiting a response to your
inquiries to sales@transarc.com.  We expect (and look forward to!) a high
level of activity in the 1-3 months following the announcement of this
project.

Overview

   IBM is making its AFS enterprise file system product available to the
   open source community under the IBM Public License (IPL).  AFS is a very
   scalable, highly available, and secure file system with a very robust
   data management model for ease of administration.

   AFS, which has been commercially available from IBM's Transarc Lab for
   over 10 years,  has a strong following of commercial, government,
   university and research customers.    Through these customer
   installations, files stored in AFS are accessed by millions of users
   worldwide.

   IBM is making AFS available under open source to speed the pace of
   innovation in the product and to make it easier for our customers to
   collaborate in the area of enterprise file sharing.  Many AFS customers
   are involved in other open source initiatives, and they are very
   enthusiastic about an "Open AFS".

   IBM realizes that while some customers will use "Open AFS", many of our
   customers will still require a commercially supported version of AFS.
   Therefore,  IBM will continue to sell, develop and support its version
   of "IBM AFS".   This will give our customers additional choices and
   flexibility on how to deploy AFS in their environments.  However, please
   note that, because IBM will not control the development of Open AFS, IBM
   will not be able to offer support services for Open AFS.  IBM will
   commercially support only its version of AFS.

   IBM is announcing the intent to open source AFS at LinuxWorld on August
   15, 2000, and the source code will be made available next month (Sept
   2000) in the IBM DeveloperWorks Open Source Zone (stay tuned to:
   http://oss.software.ibm.com/developerworks/opensource/).

Frequently Asked Questions

Q1.  When will AFS code be available in open source?

A1. The AFS source code will be made available next month (Sept 2000) in
the IBM DeveloperWorks Open Source Zone (stay tuned to:
http://oss.software.ibm.com/developerworks/opensource/).

Q2.  How will changes be accepted into "Open AFS"?

A2.  The AFS 3.6 code base will be "forked" to  form "Open AFS" and "IBM
AFS". "Open AFS" will be open-sourced under the IBM Public License (IPL).
We will form an advisory board (~ 6-8 members) to interface with the
community and accept/reject changes to the official version of "Open AFS".
This board will be comprised of 1 IBM technical person, 1 IBM business
person, and ~ 6 members of the AFS community.  We have a core group
(currently 5 members) for the Advisory Board, and they will meet to
finalize the process for accepting new members, code contributions, etc.

Q3.  Will IBM take changes from "Open AFS" into "IBM AFS"?

A3. IBM may take changes from "Open AFS" into "IBM AFS", but it will not be
obligated to take any changes from the open source version of AFS into its
commercially supported version of  IBM AFS.

Q4.  Is all of AFS going to be open-sourced?

A4.  IBM will open-source as much of the AFS code as possible. We will not
be able to open-source some pieces of the code for various technical and
licensing reasons.

Q5.  Will IBM support "Open AFS"?

A5.  IBM will support "IBM AFS" clients and servers for those customers who
have active IBM AFS support contracts.  IBM will not offer support services
for Open AFS.

Q6.  Is IBM still investing in AFS?

A6.  Yes.  IBM recognizes that many of our customers will still want a
commercially-supported version of AFS IBM AFS.  IBM/Transarc will still
sell, maintain, port (to new versions of currently-supported OS), support,
and provide minor enhancements to "IBM AFS".

Q7.  Will IBM also open source DFS?

A7.  This announcement pertains solely to AFS.  Since AFS has a large
number of source customers already,  we feel it is has strong potential to
be a successful open-source project.   DFS is not being open-sourced at
this time.

Q8.  Why are you announcing "Open AFS" under the IPL?  Why not the GPL?

A8.  The IPL has been well-received by the open source community.  IBM
believes that the terms of the IPL are most suited to the AFS open-source
project.  For details on the IPL, please see:
http://oss.software.ibm.com/developerworks/opensource/license10.html?dwzone=opensource
.

Q9.  Where can we get answers to questions not covered in this FAQ?

A9.  If you have additional questions on this initiative, please first
check http://www.transarc.com or
http://oss.software.ibm.com/developerworks/opensource/).  We will be
updating the FAQ at these sites periodically.  If you have a question that
is not addressed in the FAQ, please contact sales@transarc.com.  We would
appreciate your patience in awaiting a response to your inquiries.  We
expect (and look forward to!) a high level of activity in the 1-3 months
following the announcement of this project.


Laura L. Stentz
Senior Manager
IBM Transarc Lab
11 Stanwix Street
Pittsburgh, PA  15222
Phone:  (412) 667-6802, T/L 989-6802
FAX:  (412) 667-4439, T/L 989-4439
stentz@us.ibm.com