Origin of Object Identifiers
The purpose of object identifiers is to ensure uniqueness among the attribute types that many different applications generate and use. Object identifiers are typically obtained from a hierarchy of allocation authorities, the highest being the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the International Telegraph and Telephone Consultative Committee (CCITT). Individual application developers do not usually have to contact ISO or CCITT directly to obtain unique numbers. Application developers are more likely to request object identifiers from a person within their company who is in charge of allocating them. The company authority would in turn contact a higher authority to obtain a unique company prefix.
The hierarchy of allocation authorities is indicated by dots that separate portions of an object identifier. Each string of numbers delineated by dots represents a level of the allocation hierarchy, going left to right from the highest authority down. For example, the object identifier 1.3.22.1.1.2 consists of the following levels:
1 ISO
3 Identified organization
22 Open Software Foundation
1 Distributed Computing Environment
1 Remote Procedure Call
2 RPC Object UUIDs