TheIn [[computing]], the '''Distributed Computing Environment''' (DCE) is a [[software system]] developed in the early 1990s byfrom the work of the [[Open Software Foundation]] (OSF), a consortium (founded in 1988) that included [[Apollo Computer]] (later part of [[Hewlett-Packard]] from 1989), [[IBM]], [[Digital Equipment Corporation]], and others. The DCE supplies a [[software framework | framework]] and a toolkit for developing [[client/server]] applications. The framework includes:
* a [[remote procedure call]] (RPC) mechanism known as [[DCE/RPC]], * a naming ([[directory service|directory]]) service, * a time service, * an [[authentication]] service and * a [[distributed file system]] (DFS) known as [[DCE Distributed File System|DCE/DFS]].
DCE wasrepresented a big step in the direction toof standardisation of architectures[[software architecture | architecture]]s, which werehad manufacturerpreviously dependentbeen beforemanufacturer-dependent. Similar toLike the [[OSI model]], DCE has not seen much success in practical implementation; however, its underlying concepts have had more substantial influence over subsequent efforts.
