<html><body><p><font size="2">All,</font><br><font size="2">I have to admit I did not actively contribute to the mission statement discussion for some time. But let me share with you what I think when I just read the proposed new mission statement.</font><br><br><font size="2">It would reflect quite a big change of the mission of the OFA. To me, old keywords were</font><br>
<ul type="disc"><li><font size="2">open source software development, test, licensing, support</font><li><font size="2">vendor independence</font><li><font size="2">unified, cross-platform, transport-independent software stack for RDMA</font><li><font size="2">standards-based software</font><br></ul><br><font size="2">So, to my understanding, the current mission of the OFA is to develop and maintain an ecosystem to ease and promote the usage of RDMA fabrics, while closely following given standards.</font><br><br><font size="2">Here are my main concerns with the proposed new mission statement:</font><br>
<ul type="disc"><li><font size="2">It completely lacks the term 'open source software', which was essential for the success of OFA so far.</font><li><font size="2">Vendor independence got dropped, transport (fabric) independence as well. </font><li><font size="2"> Positioning OFA as a standardization body ("creating industry standard specifications"). That shall be out of scope of OFA.</font><li><font size="2">"accelerate the development ... of advanced networks" - OFA shall not, and cannot develop new networks, except social ;)</font><li><font size="2">"incubating new software technologies" - what is this about? What is an example new software technology which gets incubated in OFA?</font></ul><br><br><font size="2">In a nutshell, it would move the role of OFA from an enabler of technology to a creator and promoter of technology. Of course, the mission statement shall not preclude the adoption of new technologies, best under the umbrella of vendor and transport independence, but its development and promotion shall be outside the scope of OFA.</font><br><br><font size="2">Looking forward to talk to you tomorrow,</font><br><br><font size="2">Bernard.</font><br><br>
<p><font size="2"><br>---<br>Bernard Metzler, PhD<br>Tech. Leader High Performance I/O, Principal Research Staff<br>IBM Zurich Research Laboratory<br>Saeumerstrasse 4<br>CH-8803 Rueschlikon, Switzerland<br>+41 44 724 8605</font><br><br><img width="16" height="16" src="cid:1__=4EBB08C3DFC653668f9e8a93df938690918c4EB@" border="0" alt="Inactive hide details for Paul Grun ---03/13/2018 00:58:13--- * The 'mission project' has nearly reached its end - the attac"><font size="2" color="#424282">Paul Grun ---03/13/2018 00:58:13--- * The 'mission project' has nearly reached its end - the attached is the result of many moons' w</font><br><br><font size="2" color="#5F5F5F">From: </font><font size="2">Paul Grun <grun@cray.com></font><br><font size="2" color="#5F5F5F">To: </font><font size="2">"ofa_boardplus@lists.openfabrics.org, " <ofa_boardplus@lists.openfabrics.org></font><br><font size="2" color="#5F5F5F">Date: </font><font size="2">03/13/2018 00:58</font><br><font size="2" color="#5F5F5F">Subject: </font><font size="2">[Ofa_boardplus] Voteable item for Thursday's Board Meeting</font><br><font size="2" color="#5F5F5F">Sent by: </font><font size="2">"Ofa_boardplus" <ofa_boardplus-bounces@lists.openfabrics.org></font><br><hr width="100%" size="2" align="left" noshade style="color:#8091A5; "><br><br>
<ul><ul type="disc"><li><font face="Calibri">The ‘mission project’ has nearly reached its end – the attached is the result of many moons’ worth of work conducted in the XWG.</font><li><font face="Calibri">Note that there remain several important points that should be discussed in the context of the Board – see Slide 5</font><li><font face="Calibri">Cray will welcome some wordsmithing on Slide 3 during the meeting before this is offered as an official motion on Thursday. The idea is to get the motion as close to consensus as possible before making an official motion in order to avoid the overhead of capturing a bunch of friendly amendments.</font></ul></ul><font face="Calibri"> </font><br><font face="Calibri">Regards,</font><br><font face="Calibri">-Paul</font><br><font face="Calibri"> </font><br><font face="Calibri">Advanced Technology Group</font><br><font face="Calibri">Cray, Inc.</font><br><font face="Calibri">Office – (503) 620 – 8757</font><br><font face="Calibri">Mobile – (503) 703 - 5382</font><br><font face="Calibri"> [attachment "V_Mission_2018_0312.pptx" deleted by Bernard Metzler/Zurich/IBM] </font><br><tt><font size="2">_______________________________________________<br>Ofa_boardplus mailing list<br>Ofa_boardplus@lists.openfabrics.org<br></font></tt><tt><font size="2"><a href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__lists.openfabrics.org_mailman_listinfo_ofa-5Fboardplus&d=DwIGaQ&c=jf_iaSHvJObTbx-siA1ZOg&r=2TaYXQ0T-r8ZO1PP1alNwU_QJcRRLfmYTAgd3QCvqSc&m=vPe5Sm978ZHkvo7ojKoQjoq_EBMyotpJfrg8J_9JOvw&s=u62GRZ_4iLAxKKTSVNURbsP8aJEGqBPn-MM0GEyWFIU&e=">https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__lists.openfabrics.org_mailman_listinfo_ofa-5Fboardplus&d=DwIGaQ&c=jf_iaSHvJObTbx-siA1ZOg&r=2TaYXQ0T-r8ZO1PP1alNwU_QJcRRLfmYTAgd3QCvqSc&m=vPe5Sm978ZHkvo7ojKoQjoq_EBMyotpJfrg8J_9JOvw&s=u62GRZ_4iLAxKKTSVNURbsP8aJEGqBPn-MM0GEyWFIU&e=</a></font></tt><tt><font size="2"><br></font></tt><br><br><BR>
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