The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) X3H2 Committee, responsible for standards for the syntax and semantics of database languages, held its first meeting in May 1978. The H2 committee was originally charged with creating a standard for the CODASYL (Conference on Data Systems Languages) Data Description Language Committee’s network data model, based on the CODASYL 1978 JOD. The resulting NDL (network database language) standard was finished in 1982. The committee began work on standardizing the relational data model through the IBM donated language SEQUEL in 1982, which resulted in the SQL (structured query language) standard in 1984. Both became American National Standards in 1986. Work continued on the SQL standard, resulting in SQL89, SQL92, and SQL99.
The H2 committee was made up of representatives from industry, professional and technical societies, and government, and sponsored by the trade organization Computer and Business Equipment Manufacturers Association (CBEMA, renamed the Information Technology Industry Council in 1994). Michael M. Gorman served as secretary to the committee from its first meeting.
The H2 committee was known as X3H2 until 1996, when the Accredited Standards Committee X3 changed its name to NCITS (National Committee for Information Technology Standards). In 2001, NCITS became INCITS (International Committee for Information Technology) and the H2 committee was known as the ANSI INCITS H2 Technical Committee on Database.
From the guide to the American National Standards Institute. X3H2 records, 1978-1995, (University of Minnesota Libraries. Charles Babbage Institute. [cbi])
