[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 197 (Friday, October 10, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Page 52976]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-26878]
[[Page 52976]]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Institute of Standards and Technology
[Docket No. 970326070-7204-02]
Notice of Delayed Termination of Validation Services for Federal
Information Processing Standards (FIPS)
AGENCY: National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST),
Commerce.
ACTION: Notice; Delayed termination of validation services.
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SUMMARY: The NIST Information Technology Laboratory (NIST) is
terminating validation services for FIPS 21-4, COBOL; FIPS 69-1
FORTRAN; FIPS 128-2, Computer Graphics Metafile, Air Transport
Association Profile (CGM (ATA)); FIPS 160, C, and FIPS 151-2, POSIX.
NIST announced by Department Organization Order 30-2B the formation
of the Information Technology Laboratory (ITL). Under the new ITL
organization, NIST is refocusing its program for information
technology, concentrating on the development of conformance tests for
emerging information technologies rather than the operation of software
testing services. NIST will assist private industry and government
agencies in establishing testing programs for these standards by
providing NIST conformance testing materials to interested parties.
EFFECTIVE DATE: Validation services for FIPS 151-2. POSIX, will
terminate on December 31, 1997. Validation services for FIPS 21-4,
COBOL; FIPS 69-1, FORTRAN; FIPS 128-2, CGM (ATA); and FIPS 160, C, will
terminate on or before September 30, 1998. These validation services
will terminate before September 30, 1998, if other private industry
and/or government agency testing programs have been established.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION OR COMMENTS CONTACT: Ms. Lynne Rosenthal,
National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD 20899,
telephone (301) 975-3283, email 1sr@nist.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The NIST announced on April 8, 1997, (62 FR
16788-89) that it was considering the termination of the validation
services for FIPS 21-4, COBOL; FIPS 69-1, FORTRAN; FIPS 128-2 CGM
(ATA); FIPS 151-2, POSIX; and FIPS 160, C. In response to comments on
the April 8, 1997, announcement, NIST is delaying termination of these
services to give private industry and/or government agencies more time
to establish their own validation services. If private industry and/or
government agency testing programs are established before September 30,
1998, NIST may announce an earlier date for terminating services.
A Director of Conformance Testing Programs, Products, and Services
is available on the World Wide Web (WWW) at the Universal Resource
Locator (URL) http://www.nist.gov/ctdirectory.html. NIST test suites
and testing procedures are distributed freely and are accessible from
the Directory. Additional conformance testing information is available
on the URL http://www.itl.nist.gov/div897/ctg.
Authority: Federal Information Processing Standards Publications
(FIPS PUBS) are issued by the National Institute of Standards and
Technology pursuant to Section 5131 of the Information Technology
Management Reform Act of 1996 and the Computer Security Act of 1987,
Pub. L. 104-106.
Dated: October 3, 1997.
Elaine Bunten-Mines,
Director, Program Office.
[FR Doc. 97-26878 Filed 10-9-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-CN-M'
