Unified interoperability

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Unified interoperability is the property of a system that allows for the integration of real-time and non-real time communications, activities, data, and information services (i.e., unified) and the display and coordination of those services across systems and devices (i.e., interoperability). [1] [2] [3] Unified interoperability provides the capability to communicate and exchange processing across different applications, data, and infrastructure. [3] [4] [5]

Contents

Unified communications

Unified communications has been led by the business world, which has a need for efficiency, simplicity, and speed. Rather than a single tool or product, unified communications is a set of products that deliver a nearly identically user experience across multiple devices or media types. [5] [6] [7] The system begins with “presence information” - a feature of telecommunications technology that “senses” where a user is in relation to the technology. [6] [7] This change has been dominated by telecommunications providers integrating video, instant messaging, voice, and collaboration. [1] [2] [3]

Unified Communications Interoperability Forum

In May 2010, a number of communications technology vendors founded a nonprofit organization for the advancement of interoperability. [8] [9] The goal of the Unified Communications Interoperability Forum is to enable complete interoperability of hardware and software across huge networks of systems. [9] The UCIF relies on existing standards rather than the authoring of new ones. [8] [9] Members of the UCIF include (*founding member): [9]

Interoperability

In the broadest sense, interoperability is the ability of multiple systems (usually computer systems) to work together seamlessly. [11] [12] [13] In the Information Age, interoperability is a highly desirable trait for most business systems. [1] [12] Likewise, as homes become more infused with networked technologies (desktop PCs, tablet computers, smartphones, Internet-ready television), interoperability becomes an issue even for the average consumer. [1] [3] [12]

Computer operating systems are a prime example of interoperability, wherein several programs from different vendors are able to co-exist and, in many cases, exchange data in a meaningful way. [1] [3] An operating system is also “unified” in the sense that it presents the user with a common, easy to understand computer interface for executing numerous tasks. [2] [3] The unified interoperability of computers means that users need not have specialized knowledge about how computers function. [1] [3]

A system with the property of interoperability will retain that property well into the future. [3] The system will be adaptable to the rapid changes in technology with only minor adjustments. [3]

Syntactic interoperability

The most fundamental level of interoperability is syntactic interoperability. At this level, systems can exchange data without loss or corruption. [14] Certain data formats are especially suited to the exchange of data between diverse systems. XML (extensible markup language), for instance, allows data to be transmitted in a comprehensible format for people and machines. [14] SQL (structured query language), on the other hand, is an industry-standard, nearly universal format for compiling information in a database. [14] SQL databases are essential for a business such as Amazon.com, with its vast catalog of products, attributes, and consumer reviews. [14] [15]

Semantic interoperability

Semantic interoperability goes a step further than syntactic interoperability. [15] Systems with semantic interoperability can not only exchange data effortlessly, but also interpret and communicate that data to human users in a meaningful, actionable way. [15] [16]

Distributed functions and processing interoperability

Distributed functions and processing interoperability focus on the ability to create new products, applications and operating models without traditional intermediaries like data models, databases or large system integrations through establishing a Unified Interoperability framework between normally, diverse and distributed sources, data, technology and other assets. [3] [4] [17]

It enables business problems to be solved by connecting interoperable components of any characteristic into single, uniform, global “instruction chain” of functionality. [3] Components use existing IP or applications and so integrate disparate technology to a uniform platform. [3] Configuration models combine runtime processing infrastructure for common and predictable performance, security, resiliency, and availability with the whole process, enabling the uniform exchange of data and consistent processing across components, irrespective of technology, format or location. [1] [3]

Benefits

Unified interoperability offers benefits for every stakeholder in a system. For customers and end-users of a system, unified interoperability offers a more convenient, satisfying experience. [1] [3] In business, interoperability helps lower costs and improves overall efficiency. [1] [3] As businesses strive to maximize the efficiency of their integrated systems, they encourage innovation and problem solving. [3]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Semantic Web</span> Extension of the Web to facilitate data exchange

The Semantic Web, sometimes known as Web 3.0, is an extension of the World Wide Web through standards set by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). The goal of the Semantic Web is to make Internet data machine-readable.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Interoperability</span> Ability of systems to work with each other

Interoperability is a characteristic of a product or system to work with other products or systems. While the term was initially defined for information technology or systems engineering services to allow for information exchange, a broader definition takes into account social, political, and organizational factors that impact system-to-system performance.

Middleware in the context of distributed applications is software that provides services beyond those provided by the operating system to enable the various components of a distributed system to communicate and manage data. Middleware supports and simplifies complex distributed applications. It includes web servers, application servers, messaging and similar tools that support application development and delivery. Middleware is especially integral to modern information technology based on XML, SOAP, Web services, and service-oriented architecture.

Enterprise information integration (EII) is the ability to support a unified view of data and information for an entire organization. In a data virtualization application of EII, a process of information integration, using data abstraction to provide a unified interface for viewing all the data within an organization, and a single set of structures and naming conventions to represent this data; the goal of EII is to get a large set of heterogeneous data sources to appear to a user or system as a single, homogeneous data source.

Enterprise application integration (EAI) is the use of software and computer systems' architectural principles to integrate a set of enterprise computer applications.

Open Platform Communications (OPC) is a series of standards and specifications for industrial telecommunication. They are based on Object Linking and Embedding (OLE) for process control. An industrial automation task force developed the original standard in 1996 under the name OLE for Process Control. OPC specifies the communication of real-time plant data between control devices from different manufacturers.

The OPC Foundation is an industry consortium that creates and maintains standards for open connectivity of industrial automation devices and systems, such as industrial control systems and process control generally. The OPC standards specify the communication of industrial process data, alarms and events, historical data and batch process data between sensors, instruments, controllers, software systems, and notification devices.

Enterprise content management (ECM) extends the concept of content management by adding a timeline for each content item and, possibly, enforcing processes for its creation, approval, and distribution. Systems using ECM generally provide a secure repository for managed items, analog or digital. They also include one methods for importing content to bring manage new items, and several presentation methods to make items available for use. Although ECM content may be protected by digital rights management (DRM), it is not required. ECM is distinguished from general content management by its cognizance of the processes and procedures of the enterprise for which it is created.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Enterprise integration</span>

Enterprise integration is a technical field of enterprise architecture, which is focused on the study of topics such as system interconnection, electronic data interchange, product data exchange and distributed computing environments.

Microsoft BizTalk Server is an inter-organizational middleware system (IOMS) that automates business processes through the use of adapters which are tailored to communicate with different software systems used in an enterprise. Created by Microsoft, it provides enterprise application integration, business process automation, business-to-business communication, message broker and business activity monitoring.

Semantic interoperability is the ability of computer systems to exchange data with unambiguous, shared meaning. Semantic interoperability is a requirement to enable machine computable logic, inferencing, knowledge discovery, and data federation between information systems.

In computer science, the semantic desktop is a collective term for ideas related to changing a computer's user interface and data handling capabilities so that data are more easily shared between different applications or tasks and so that data that once could not be automatically processed by a computer could be. It also encompasses some ideas about being able to share information automatically between different people. This concept is very much related to the Semantic Web, but is distinct insofar as its main concern is the personal use of information.

Unified communications (UC) is a business and marketing concept describing the integration of enterprise communication services such as instant messaging (chat), presence information, voice, mobility features, audio, web & video conferencing, fixed-mobile convergence (FMC), desktop sharing, data sharing, call control and speech recognition with non-real-time communication services such as unified messaging. UC is not necessarily a single product, but a set of products that provides a consistent unified user interface and user experience across multiple devices and media types.

Inductive Automation is a supplier of web-based industrial automation software based in Folsom, California, US. The Ignition SCADA platform is the company's main product line.

Business semantics management (BSM) encompasses the technology, methodology, organization, and culture that brings business stakeholders together to collaboratively realize the reconciliation of their heterogeneous metadata; and consequently the application of the derived business semantics patterns to establish semantic alignment between the underlying data structures.

Smart-M3 is a name of an open-source software project that aims to provide a Semantic Web information sharing infrastructure between software entities and devices. It combines the ideas of distributed, networked systems and semantic web. The ultimate goal is to enable smart environments and linking of real and virtual worlds.

The Unified Communications Interoperability Forum (UCIF) is a non-profit alliance between communications technology vendors. It was announced on May 19, 2010, with the vision to maximize the interoperability of UC based on existing standards. Founding members of UCIF were HP, Microsoft, Polycom, Logitech / LifeSize Communications, and Juniper Networks. On July 28, 2014, UCIF merged with International Multimedia Telecommunications Consortium (UMTC) into one consortium.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Open Geospatial Consortium</span> Standards organization

The Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC), an international voluntary consensus standards organization for geospatial content and location-based services, sensor web and Internet of Things, GIS data processing and data sharing. It originated in 1994 and involves more than 500 commercial, governmental, nonprofit and research organizations in a consensus process encouraging development and implementation of open standards.

Ignition is an Integrated Software Platform for SCADA systems released by Inductive Automation in January 2010. It is based on a SQL Database-centric architecture. Ignition features cross platform web based deployment through Java Web Start technology. The Ignition platform has three main components: the Ignition Gateway, the Designer, and the runtime clients. Independent modules provide separate functionality in any or all of the platform components. Ignition SCADA modules provide features such as: Real-Time Status Control, Alarming, Reporting, Data Acquisition, Scripting, Scheduling, MES, and Mobile support.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Thomas, Ben (5 March 2013). "Invalid Files and Language Learning: Your Brain's Interoperable World". Huffington Post. Retrieved 13 March 2013.
  2. 1 2 3 Bandoim, Lana. "Unified Interoperability as the Alternative to Big Data Costs?". Yahoo! Voices. Retrieved 13 March 2013.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Moran, Andrew. "Tech leaders collaborate, unite over unified interoperability". Digital Journal. Retrieved 13 March 2013.
  4. 1 2 "Next Generation Data Interoperability: It's all About the Metadata" (PDF). Whitemarsh Information Systems Corporation. Retrieved 13 March 2013.
  5. 1 2 "Interoperability: What Is It and Why Should I Want It?". Ariadne. Retrieved 13 March 2013.
  6. 1 2 Unified Communications
  7. 1 2 "Interoperability". Microsoft. Retrieved 13 March 2013.
  8. 1 2 Unified Communications Interoperability Forum
  9. 1 2 3 4 "Official Website". UCI Forum. Retrieved 13 March 2013.
  10. ↑ "Aspect (company official site)".
  11. ↑ Luth, Jim. "Unified architecture – The future of OPC". Control. Retrieved 13 March 2013.
  12. 1 2 3 "Prime" (PDF). ON Windows. Retrieved 13 March 2013.
  13. ↑ Interoperability
  14. 1 2 3 4 Jovellanos, Chito (9 June 2003). Semantic and syntactic interoperability: in transactional systems. EC '03. ACM Digital Library. pp. 266–267. doi:10.1145/779928.779991. ISBN   9781581136791. S2CID   39797589 . Retrieved 13 March 2013.
  15. 1 2 3 Paskin, Norman. "Identifier interoperability" (PDF). Digital Preservation Europe. Retrieved 13 March 2013.
  16. ↑ "Semantic Interoperability". Qualipso. Retrieved 13 March 2013.
  17. ↑ "OPC Unified Architecture". OPC. Retrieved 13 March 2013.
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