Group unveils utility computing spec

The DCML Organization has completed a technical specification designed to enable utility computing in corporate data centers. The organization, which is made up of a collection of companies that sell management software, published the DCML Framework specification on Monday.

DCML, or Data Center Markup Language, allows developers to build software tools that manage technical resources, such as servers, storage devices and business applications. Once DCML is implemented in commercial products, which could happen later this year, customers will be able to provision computing resources more flexibly to better react to shifts in computing demand. For example, a company could provision more servers to process financial results at the end of a fiscal quarter. The DCML Organization is looking to create a partnership or merge with a standards group by June to continue development of the specification. The group will likely create a formal alliance with either the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS) or the Distributed Management Task Force (DMTF), said Louis Blatt, president of the DCML Organization and an executive at Computer Associates International.