Supporting Software Development in Virtual Enterprises Walt Scacchi October 1999 © Copyright 1999, Walt Scacchi, All Rights Reserved.

Overview Background and Challenges Distributed Semantic Hypertext Workspace Integration and Meta-Integration Incorporating Process Enactment Related Efforts Discussion and Conclusions

Background and Challenges Present (1990): multiple autonomous, heterogeneous repositories, diverse data types, rapid change, multiple ways of viewing relationships the same entities across the Internet. Future: the distributed collaborative virtualization of everything informational –Everything distributed across space, time, etc.

Background Provide transparency: type, location, scale, source, process,… Maintain autonomy: multiple concurrent, overlapping “views” of shared info objects w/o centralized administration or global transaction manager Provide (generate?) domain-specific work environments operating across the Internet.

Challenge Problems Distributed Software/Systems Engineering Business-to-Business Electronic Commerce via rapidly composed Virtual Enterprises Acquisition and Engineering of Virtual Systems

Distributed Soft/Sys Engineering

Virtual Systems Acquisition (DoD)

Distributed Semantic HyperText/Media Workspace Objects have type, attributes and values (instances) Relationships/links have type, attributes and values (instances) Contexts (arbitrary graphs of linked objects) have type, attributes and values (instances) Brokers for syndicating, wrappers for interfacing, and generic methods for accessing and updating above entities

Integration and Meta-Integration Multi-level tool integration Meta-integration Object caching

Multi-level tool integration Level 0: Process integration Level 1: Helper applications Level 2: Interface to virtual file system Level 3: Link (relationship) aware Level 4: Incorporation of semantic hypertext navigation, browsing, querying and linking

Meta-Integration Façade, view and process integration Data and control integration Semantics and web integration Service/capability integration Integration as process executed across levels –Self-referential integration capabilities and support mechanisms

Object Caching File system emulation via VFS –Re-link executables to emulation library Cache layer interface to frequently accessed objects Cache management policies –E.g., Use cached copy if TTL not expired Supporting heterogeneous workspace models via caching interface policies

Incorporating Process Enactment Processes can provide guidance, monitoring and control Process “link” types: decomposition, precedence and available tasks Process link server (cf. Sun Link Service) –Manages multiple concurrent process threads Process enactment as navigation

Related Efforts WWW vs. Distributed Semantic Web Updating Web servers to support primitive process link services Web Operating Systems Web Repository Management Services Virtual Enterprise Operating Systems –Digital Libraries –B2B Electronic Commerce

Discussion and Conclusions Evolutionary approach to coordination and integration Support for logical, physical and process integration Support distributed team/VE coordination via transparent process enactment Comprehensive solution (?) with low implementation cost

References W. Scacchi, On the Power of Domain-Specific Hypertext Environments, J. American Society Information Science, 40(3): , May, 1989 J. Noll and W. Scacchi, Integrating Diverse Information Repositories: A Distributed Hypertext Approach, Computer, 24(12):38-45, December J. Noll and W. Scacchi, Supporting Software Development in Virtual Enterprises, J. Digital Information, 1(4), February W. Scacchi, Computational Business Process Components for Electronic Commerce, 1998 Intern. Workshop on Component-Based Electronic Commerce, Berkeley, CA, July W. Scacchi and B.E. Boehm, Virtual System Acquisition: Approach and Transitions, Acquisition Review Quarterly, 5(2): , Spring 1998