SAA is a collection of selected software interfaces,

conventions, and

protocols that are used as a framework for developing

consistent,

integrated applications across the major IBM computing

environments.

Four major components of this architecture are:

- Common User Access (CUA) defines conventions for GUI

look and feel.

- Common Programming Interface (CPI) provides languages,

tools, and APIs that give applications greater portability

and more consistent user interfaces across multiple

platforms.

- Common Communication Support (CCS) supports existing

communications standards, such as LU 6.2.

- Common Applications, written by IBM, will serve as

demonstrations of SAA concepts and make it easy for users

to migrate between systems.