Notice of Delayed Termination of Validation Services for Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS)

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 [email protected].

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]

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