Image:www.redfishspecification.org

Dell, Emerson Network Power (NYSE: EMR), HP and Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) have announced the creation of Redfish, a specification under development for data center and systems management that the companies say delivers comprehensive functionality, scalability and security. In a joint press release issued by the companies, Redfish is billed as "one of the most comprehensive specifications since the Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI) was launched in 1998."

Redfish reportedly uses "a modern network interface style, allowing access to data using even simple, script-based programming methods." The companies say that, going forward, "the specification will be designed to improve scalability and expand data access and analysis, help lower costs, and further enable feature-rich remote management while ensuring a secure solution that protects investment."

The companies collaborating on the Redfish specification development say they are "focused on ensuring the specification enhances interoperability across multiple server environments and significantly simplifies management, to allow administrators to speak one language and be more productive. Additionally, Redfish will enable access to massive amounts of information and efficiently translate the data into actionable insights for system monitoring and management," say the companies.

The specification effort leveraged the combined experience of the collaborating companies in IT systems hardware, microprocessors and data center infrastructure management (DCIM) technologies. The organizations say they are working with industry standards bodies and associations to further accelerate the spec's development process, in anticipation of broad adoption of Redfish. The specification will be submitted to the Distributed Management Task Force for consideration by the recently created Scalable Platform Management Forum, which has been chartered to publish a standard in this space. Once the specification is approved, it will be publicly available.

More information about Redfish will be available at the Intel Developer Forum (IDF), Sept. 9-11, in San Francisco. Also visit www.redfishspecification.org to learn more.