Communicating in the technical office: The Technical and Office Protocols specification, released in November, will be tempered in the fires of realistic applications

The Technical and Office Protocols, or TOP, specification addresses the communications problem for engineering and general office applications. Ultimately, TOP is expected to provide common communications methods and related services for the exchange of information in a variety of applications, including electronic mail, word processing, file transfer, graphics, database management, and business analysis tools. TOP supports computers and other programmable equipment in a multivendor environment by selecting from existing or emerging national or international standard protocols. Where protocols do not exist, they are being developed. The major objectives of TOP are outlined, as are the ways in which TOP differs from MAP (Manufacturing Automation Protocol).