eXtreme Semantics Realize the Potential Today Dave Hollander CTO, Contivo Standards –Co-Founder of XML –Co-Chair W3C XML Schema Working Group –Co-Author W3C Recommendation Namespaces in XML –Co-Chair W3C Web Services Architecture Working Group Books –Co-Author XML Applications –Contributor/Technical Editor Semantics in Business Systems Modeling Business Objects with XML Schema Java Web Services Architecture Architecture with XML

eXtreme Semantics Semantics = Data + Behavior Behavior Data Semantics in Business Systems: The Savvy Manager’s Guide Dave McComb; Morgan Kauffman; September 2003ISBN:  Practical: When a friend says cool...don’t put on a coat  System: Purchase order triggers processes to manufacture, package, ship and bill eXtreme SEMANTICS : Pragmatic Application of Semantics

System Semantic Attributes Referents – person or thing to which the data refers –“the person with SSN ” Veracity – how closely the data agrees with its referent –“the check is in the mail” Precision – resolution of the data in the system –“date package arrived at sorting station” Semantically Adaptive – system processing automatically adapts to semantic descriptions Semantic Awareness – systems with high degree of sensitivity to semantics Flexibility – a measure of the resource cost to change a behavior Efficiency – a measure of the resources consumed to complete a behavior Quality Economics

Strategies for Semantic Harmony –Point-to-point does not scale –Inflexible –Metadata driven –Fixed precision –Ontology driven –Semantic adaptive Semantic Integration: Practical Magic that bridges the gap between the today’s computing systems and the future of semantic interoperability Hard-coded Agreements Schematic Agreements Semantic Interoperability

Why Semantic Integration The integration challenge 95% 5% Gartner Group Application Integration “Semantics” Messaging and Transport Only 5% of the interface is a function of the middleware choice. The remaining 95% is a function of application semantics.” Semantics limit traditional integration – Limited scope, adoption, functionality, high risk Transport focused, project-oriented, slow, costly Preserve investments –Packaged applications ~ $3 Trillion “Silos of competence” –Integration $300 Billion annually “Spanning silos” OTD, C2C, 360°, M&A, Regulation

Integration Focus Semantic descriptions for each component –Rich, complex, semantic, system descriptions System 2 System 1 Simple Integration Stimulus or Event Result Idealized Order-To-Delivery Integration only needs a small sub-set Loose coupling allows us to focus only on the semantics of the exchanged messages

Semantic Integration When scaled to production size systems the cost impact of integration focus is significant. 1 st Tier 2 nd Tiern th Tiers Complex Integration

Comparison Semantic Web - Ontology Requirements –Compatible with existing Web standards (XML, RDF) –Captures common KR idioms –Formally specified and of “adequate expressive power” –Can provide reasoning support Semantic Integration Requirements –Compatible with existing systems and interfaces –Capture relationships between data in messages –Detailed mappings with ability to describe all relationships –Semantics accelerate mapping

Description Logics DL is a field of research that has studied the logics that form the formal foundation of OWL –Formally specified and of “adequate expressive power” Logic captured must represent actual business logic Simple to understand (like the original web) Easy enough for large scale projects

Trends We See at Customers Commoditization of Middleware Moving to Messaging Standards: XML, Java, XSLT, web services Architecture: SOA, legacy encapsulation Metadata Technologies –Repositories Interfaces Vocabulary –Modeling XML, OO, UML Code Generation Layered Architecture Semantics –Vocabularies Canonicals and COMs –Standards Internal and Industry –Organizational Centers of Excellence Integration Competency Centers

Looking Forward Understanding: Carbon vs. Silicone –How to teach silicone about widely varying, nuanced context Legal, business process, social, temporal, change, precision, social, politics, etc –Understanding uses reference objects Rosetta-stone, boundary objects, glossing, UDEF –Standards only reduce semantic chaos Interface technologies are key Semantic Integration –Economics: Leverages existing system investments Leverages existing project efforts and skills Delivers value in current projects –Reduces semantic chaos in preparation for semantic interoperability