DAL sessions in Beijing

[Doug Tody]

Dear DAL WGers -

Our highest priorities for the Beijing interop would appear to be
1) SSAP and SLAP (both of which should go to PR in this meeting),
2) the new Table Access Protocol (TAP), and 3) SIA V2.0 and related
issues such as adding grid capabilities to the DAL services.  Work is
also in progress on SNAP, mainly within the Theory IG at this stage.

Here is what we currently have for a draft WG agenda:

     DAL-1
 	SSAP (final review of V1.0 WD and implementations before PR)
 	DAL/Registry interaction (e.g. getCapabilities, service registration
 	and verification) [with Registry WG]

     DAL-2 [with Data Models WG]
 	Spectrum DM
 	SSAP discussion - is SSAP ready to go to PR?
 	SLAP (final review of V1.0 WD before PR)
 	If there is time, discussion of further evolution of spectral
 	data interfaces, e.g., SEDs, spectral associations.

     DAL-3, DAL-4 [with VOQL WG]
 	TAP specification.  A joint VOQL-DAL group is working on this
 	now and should have a draft version for review available
 	in advance of the meeting.  TAP will be the primary DAL
 	protocol for catalog access, but is also the main VO query
 	language facility, hence is being addressed jointly by VOQL
 	and DAL.  Within DAL we want to ensure uniformity with the
 	other DAL interfaces and where possible enable use of common
 	facilities, e.g., a common basic service profile, common grid
 	capabilities, common getCapabilities method and pattern for
 	registry interaction, and so on.

     DAL-5
     	SIA V2 planning
 	complex data, integration of grid capabilities into DAL
 	roadmap update

The SNAP interface will be discussed within the Theory IG sessions.
Anyone from the DAL WG who is interested in this interface should
attend this session.

An additional DAL session is being considered for presenting
implementations, but is not currently scheduled.  Anyone who would
like to present something, or suggest additional topics, should
contact me and we can consider further changes to the draft agenda.

Updated versions of the SSAP and SLAP specifications, hopefully
ready to go to PR following a final round of WG discussion, should be
available in April in time to review before the meeting.  A revised
version of Spectrum, prepared jointly by DM and DAL, should also be
available shortly.

 	- Doug