Cooperation & Interoperability Architecture & Ontology

Definition According to ISO/IEC , Information Technology Vocabulary, Fundamental Terms, interoperability is defined as follows: "The capability to communicate, execute programs, or transfer data among various functional units in a manner that requires the user to have little or no knowledge of the unique characteristics of those units". According to ISO/IEC , Information Technology Vocabulary, Fundamental Terms, interoperability is defined as follows: "The capability to communicate, execute programs, or transfer data among various functional units in a manner that requires the user to have little or no knowledge of the unique characteristics of those units".ISO/IEC 2382ISO/IEC 2382

Importance Increased move toward more distributed computer systems through network communication facilities. Increased move toward more distributed computer systems through network communication facilities. Need for standards in process and protocols have increased as the need to communicate between systems has increased Need for standards in process and protocols have increased as the need to communicate between systems has increased

Benefits Seamless integration of modular products robustly fulfilling focused software needs Seamless integration of modular products robustly fulfilling focused software needs Lack of need to do ground-up design everytime Lack of need to do ground-up design everytime Allows for 3 rd party component to be integrated into systems Allows for 3 rd party component to be integrated into systems

Downsides Conformation to other system’s policies even if there is a better way of operating Conformation to other system’s policies even if there is a better way of operating Level of Interoperability can inhibit intellectual property Level of Interoperability can inhibit intellectual property More time consuming during the design process More time consuming during the design process Potentially more cost to maintain Potentially more cost to maintain

Examples Java Virtual Machine Java Virtual Machine Open Document Format Open Document Format Steam Client Integration in Games Steam Client Integration in Games ARPA Net ARPA Net

Difficulty of Implementation Semantic Issues Semantic Issues –A standard, protocol, or rule can be interpreted by different parties in different ways Example: Different HTML implementations of the W3C HTML 4.0 Specifications

Difficulty of Implementation Interaction between systems is sometimes under the guise of complete information. Interaction between systems is sometimes under the guise of complete information. –Unbounded System involve an unknown number of participating systems.

Difficulty of Implementation Trust Trust –Each system design must trust the other one in order to fully work. If one system perceives that the other one is untrustworthy, the system may withhold levels of interoperability

Difficulty of Implementation Software cascading – adverse effects on other components may have greater consequences down the line, due to greater interdependence between modular components Software cascading – adverse effects on other components may have greater consequences down the line, due to greater interdependence between modular components Software system boundaries are sometimes more difficult to define Software system boundaries are sometimes more difficult to define

Security Concerns Issues of Confidentiality Issues of Confidentiality Information Integrity Information Integrity –information not corrupted due to unauthorized—by error or intent—change Information Availability Information Availability –What information will be available to other systems

Architectures for Interoperability Component Object Model (COM) Component Object Model (COM) –An object-oriented model developed by Microsoft to facilitate interoperability –Effective across different OS and languages –Interoperable components must comply with a predefined "binary" data access interface beneath which there is no constraint on the application implementation

Architectures for Interoperability Distributed computing environment (DCE) Distributed computing environment (DCE) –The OSF (Open Software Foundation) DCE is a comprehensive set of services supporting the development, use and maintenance of distributed applications. The services are provided independently of operating systems and network interfaces

Cost / Performance Harder to achieve Harder to achieve –Requires more work to be within standards Effective interoperability can be extremely beneficial to software reuse and system specialization Effective interoperability can be extremely beneficial to software reuse and system specialization Universal standards are the most common ways to achieve Interoperability but not all software providers adhere to standards Universal standards are the most common ways to achieve Interoperability but not all software providers adhere to standards Worthwhile overhead cost to maintain standards, Worthwhile overhead cost to maintain standards, –More of a fixed overhead and not a variable cost as more providers adopt