You may (or may not) be aware of the numerous third party add-ons for SharePoint.  The vision for SharePoint as an 'operating system for the web' may be able to leverage the foundation that MicroSoft put in place, but that hasn't prevented various software vendors creating their own solutions in isolation.  If anything, as the number and complexity of solutions for SharePoint grows the risk of isolation becomes more and more pronounced. 

A new organization has formed in an attempt to plug this gap.  The SharePoint Interoperability Solution Architecture (SISA) has formed with the goal of developing interoperability standards for the SharePoint platform.

I for one think this is an excellent idea.  Collaboration Consulting Inc. may not be a developer but we use third party add-ons as a part of some of our SharePoint solutions.  And if experience has taught me anything a lack of standards can be a significant inhibitor in the long term. 

In scanning SISA'swebsite at sisastandard.org I noted the following members already on board:

Alcero, Active Data Exchange, Nintex, Avepoint, Neoxen,  Integrated Digital Systems/ScanAmerica, Atalasoft, Icefire Studios, Mark Logic Corporation, Bamboo Solutions, MetaVis Technologies, Sundaram Infotech, Idera, Psigen Software, Colligo, Create IT, Repliweb.com.

Whilst there is always room for more to come on board I think this is a solid start.  If you are an organization that develops software for SharePoint I encourage you to join.  And if you are someone, like me, who will benefit from such an effort be sure to encourage any vendors you work with that may not be on this list.

You may (or may not) be aware of the numerous third party add-ons for SharePoint.  The vision for SharePoint as an 'operating system for the web' may be able to leverage the foundation that MicroSoft put in place, but that hasn't prevented various software vendors creating their own solutions in isolation.  If anything, as the number and complexity of solutions for SharePoint grows the risk of isolation becomes more and more pronounced. 

A new organization has formed in an attempt to plug this gap.  The SharePoint Interoperability Solution Architecture (SISA) has formed with the goal of developing interoperability standards for the SharePoint platform.

I for one think this is an excellent idea.  Collaboration Consulting Inc. may not be a developer but we use third party add-ons as a part of some of our SharePoint solutions.  And if experience has taught me anything a lack of standards can be a significant inhibitor in the long term. 

In scanning SISA'swebsite at sisastandard.org I noted the following members already on board:

Alcero, Active Data Exchange, Nintex, Avepoint, Neoxen,  Integrated Digital Systems/ScanAmerica, Atalasoft, Icefire Studios, Mark Logic Corporation, Bamboo Solutions, MetaVis Technologies, Sundaram Infotech, Idera, Psigen Software, Colligo, Create IT, Repliweb.com.

Whilst there is always room for more to come on board I think this is a solid start.  If you are an organization that develops software for SharePoint I encourage you to join.  And if you are someone, like me, who will benefit from such an effort be sure to encourage any vendors you work with that may not be on this list.