IBM Distributed Office Support System, or DISOSS is a centralized document distribution and filing application for
IBM's
mainframe computer
A mainframe computer, informally called a mainframe or big iron, is a computer used primarily by large organizations for critical applications like bulk data processing for tasks such as censuses, industry and consumer statistics, enterpris ...
s running the
MVS and
VSE operating systems. DISOSS runs under both the
CICS transaction processing system
Transaction processing is a way of computing that divides work into individual, indivisible operations, called transactions. A transaction processing system (TPS) is a software system, or software/ hardware combination, that supports transaction ...
and the IMS/DS transaction processing system, and later versions use the
SNADS architecture of peer to peer communication for distributed services.
Heterogeneous office systems connect through DISOSS to OfficeVision/MVS series. The IBM systems are OV/MVS, “OV/VM, OV/400, PS/CICS, PS/TSO, PS/PC, PROFS, and other Mail Systems Supporting SNADS and DIA. Only a single copy of DISOSS needs to be installed somewhere in the network to accomplish the connection.” A number of other vendors such as
Digital Equipment Corporation
Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC ), using the trademark Digital, was a major American company in the computer industry from the 1960s to the 1990s. The company was co-founded by Ken Olsen and Harlan Anderson in 1957. Olsen was president unti ...
,
Hewlett-Packard, and
Data General
Data General Corporation was one of the first minicomputer firms of the late 1960s. Three of the four founders were former employees of Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC).
Their first product, 1969's Data General Nova, was a 16-bit minicompu ...
provided links to DISOSS.
Functions
DISOSS provides document library function with search and retrieval controlled by security based on user ID, along with document translation based on Document Interchange Architecture (DIA) and
Document Content Architecture (DCA). The different systems that use DISOSS for document exchange and distribution vary in their implementation of DCA and thus the end results of some combinations are only final form (FFT) documents rather than revisable form text (RFT).
It supports document exchange between various IBM and non-IBM office devices including the
IBM Displaywriter System, the
IBM 5520, the
IBM 8100/DOSF, IBM Scanmaster, and
Personal computer
A personal computer (PC) is a multi-purpose microcomputer whose size, capabilities, and price make it feasible for individual use. Personal computers are intended to be operated directly by an end user, rather than by a computer expert or tech ...
s and word processors. It offers format transformation and printing services, and provides a rich
application programming interface (API) and interfaced with other office products such as
IBM OfficeVision.
History
DISOSS was announced in 1980,
and "was designated a strategic IBM product in 1982."
It was a key part of
IBM Systems Application Architecture (SAA), but suffered from a reputation as "difficult to understand" and "a resource hog." DISOSS continues to be actively marketed and supported as of 2012.
Version 1 of DISOSS was introduced in June 1980;
Colgate-Palmolive
Colgate-Palmolive Company is an American multinational consumer products company headquartered on Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The company specializes in the production, distribution, and provision of household, health ca ...
was one of the first sites to implement DISOSS version 1, and reported dissatisfaction with the poor quality of the documentation and with software bugs.
IBM released version 2 in 1982, in which IBM claimed to resolve the issues which version 1 users had experienced.
DISOSS was implemented by the city government of
Long Beach, California
Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California.
Incorporate ...
during 1983–1984.
See also
*
PROFS
*
IBM OfficeVision
References
IBM Corporation: Document Interchange with DISOSS Version 3 (1983)
External links
DISOSS/370 V3 CONCEPTS MVS VSE (GC30-3434-00)
DISOSS
DISOSS
DISOSS
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