Topics of CTRON sub-project in 1991

CTRON interfaces are designed for common application to information communication network nodes, for switching, communications processing or information processing, and are aimed at improved software portability. Specification of the overall OS functions is now nearing completion; the main areas of ongoing study are distributed processing and network management. The specifications are nonproprietary are published in Japanese and English as interface specifications, and offered to the public domain. Furthermore, the portability experiment is contributing in a major way to evaluation of the interfaces. This paper discusses the CTRON design principles and gives an outline of published specifications. The state of the CTRON Portability Experiment which is in Step 2, the relation of worldwide standardization bodies, and the outlook for the future of CTRON are also considered.