Anticipating the ISO file transfer standards in an open systems implementation

Abstract

This paper describes a special case of conversion belonging to the Application Layer of the ISO Reference Model for Open Systems Inter-connection. It discusses the construction of a module, which provides a File Transfer Service as that defined in the ISO Working Draft on File Transfer, Access and Management (FTAM), ISO TC 97/SC 16 N1190, N1222, N1223, N1224. It is described how the semantics of the ISO FTAM service is mapped onto an existing and widely accepted interim FTAM protocol, the Network Independent File Transfer Protocol NIFTP-B(80) (the ‘blue book’). The intended goal of this approach, as demonstrated in the Danish PAXNET project, is to provide new FTAM implementations which bridge the current gap between existing implementations and the anticipated ISO/OSI FTAM service. The paper shows, how the requirements of ‘open working’ in the sense of the NIFTP-B(80) may be met in an actual implementation. Some general problems, characteristic for the construction of gateways, are illustrated.