Distributed Management Task Force (DMTF), the organization bringing the IT industry together to collaborate on systems management standards development, validation, promotion and adoption, today announced the availability of conformance programs for its Common Diagnostic Model (CDM) 1.0 and Desktop and mobile Architecture for System Hardware (DASH) 1.0 standards. A total of 14 products from DMTF member companies Dell, HP and Intel have tested and validated their products for conformance to these standards.

DMTF conformance programs provide test suites to vendors, enabling them to test DMTF-based solutions for conformance to their respective specifications. Vendors who validate their products’ test results are eligible to list their products in the DMTF certification registry. This provides IT customers and vendors with increased confidence that products listed in the registry are manageable as defined by DMTF standards.

“The completion of these DMTF conformance programs is a significant advancement of our mission to promote interoperable IT management solutions in the market,” said Thomas Butler, DMTF Vice President of Interoperability. “We are committed to helping our members develop and test their standards-based products. As a result, our members are able to provide higher quality products and enhanced interoperability for their customers. These programs also lead to reduced development cost and faster time-to-market.”

Conformance programs are currently available for the following DMTF standards:

• Common Diagnostics Model (CDM): Part of the DMTF's Common Information Model (CIM), the CDM specification is widely used throughout the industry to evaluate the health of hardware systems in multi-vendor environments. Companies supporting the CDM 1.0 conformance program include Dell, HP, IBM and Realtek.
• Desktop and Mobile Architecture for System Hardware (DASH): DASH is a suite of specifications that standardize the management of desktop and mobile systems independent of machine state, operating platform or vendor. Companies supporting the DASH 1.0 conformance program include AMD, Dell, Intel, VMware, American Megatrends, Inc., Broadcom, Fujitsu, Hitachi, HP, IBM and Realtek.

Each conformance program has developed its own set of test tools based on the DMTF specifications to drive conformance testing. Using these tools, vendors test products in their own labs using the appropriate DMTF conformance test suite and submit results to DMTF for validation and certification. More information on the individual DMTF conformance programs and participation requirements is available at www.dmtf.org/conformance.

Industry Support for DMTF Conformance Programs:

“As a DMTF board member and leader in the System Management Forum, AMD is pleased to have contributed to the creation of the industry standard conformance program for DASH,” said Chris Cloran, Corporate Vice President and General Manager, Client Division, AMD. “The DASH Conformance Program helps IT customers select client PC systems that conform to the DASH standard and can be managed in a consistent, interoperable manner. AMD VISION Pro Technology supports up through DASH 1.1. This open industry standard approach to PC security and manageability helps reduces costs and is designed to provide IT administrators the increased flexibility they need, without locking them into a single proprietary solution.”

"As a leader and contributor in the formation and implementation of DASH and founder of the CDM forum, Dell believes that the industry is taking another step forward in standardizing systems management,” said Kirk Schell, director of Business Client Product Group at Dell. “With DASH 1.0 and CDM 1.0 we are helping customers simplify the administration of their IT resources.”

“HP supports the CDM Conformance Program standards to streamline and unify vendor-supplied diagnostics for the entire IT industry,” said Antonio Neri, Vice President – Personal Systems Group Customer Experience and Warranty Services. "Such standards will reduce the time it takes to bring new technology to market, ensure common industry testing practices and in the long run, positively impact the quality and reliability of our products."

“As a leader in industry standards for PC manageability for over two decades and a founding member of the DMTF, Intel supports the arrival of the DASH 1.0 Conformance Program,” said Rick Echevarria, Vice President, Intel Architecture Group and General Manager, Business Client Platform Division, Intel Corporation. “This program adds a new level of standards-based compliance testing for desktop and mobile products. PCs based on Intel® Core™ vPro™ processor, which combine support for the DASH standard with additional hardware enhanced management and security capabilities and energy efficient performance, are available from leading OEMs worldwide.”

About DMTF

DMTF enables more effective management of millions of IT systems worldwide by bringing the IT industry together to collaborate on the development, validation and promotion of systems management standards. The group spans the industry with 160 member companies and organizations, and more than 4,000 active participants crossing 43 countries. The DMTF board of directors is led by 15 innovative, industry-leading technology companies. They include Advanced Micro Devices (AMD); Broadcom Corporation; CA; Cisco; Citrix; Dell; EMC; Fujitsu; HP; Hitachi, Ltd.; IBM; Intel Corporation; Microsoft Corporation; Oracle; and VMware. With this deep and broad reach, DMTF creates standards that enable interoperable IT management. DMTF management standards are critical to enabling management interoperability among multi-vendor systems, tools and solutions within the enterprise. Information about DMTF technologies and activities can be found at http://www.dmtf.org.