On the state of affairs in OSI transaction processing

The authors briefly describe the technical contents of an ISO standardization project on distributed transaction processing, and report on the current state of the project. After an outline of the historical development, definitions of the basic technical concepts are given. Emphasis is on an explanation of transaction commitment. The two commitment procedures described in the current working documents are characterized, and their main differences are discussed. The major arguments used by the supporters of the two different procedures are presented. Some of the problems related to interworking of systems using different commitment procedures are mentioned. A rough survey of the complete set of services is given. The influence that a future standard on distributed transaction processing might have on OSI (Open System Interconnect) service conventions is considered.