A survey of recent developments in conformance evaluation methodology is presented, including test architectures and a test language which are destined to become international standards, test generation methodology, and application of formal description techniques to several facets of testing. Gaps between theory and current practice are noted. Unresolved problems and some opportunities for additional research are identified.>

As part of a planned transition by the US Department of Defense (DoD) from military standard to open systems interconnection (OSI) protocols, the National Bureau of Standards (NBS) is implementing and testing two application-layer gateways. NBS is applying description techniques developed within the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the Consultative Committee for International Telephone and Telegraph (CCITT) to the specification of distributed test systems for the gateways between OSI and DoD networks. Translators developed at NBS for Estelle and ASN.1 aid in automating the implementation of the test systems. An overview of the test system for an electronic mail gateway and the methods used to realize it are presented. Measures of productivity of the methods used are also presented.>