A Guide to Understanding Emerging Interoperability Technologies

Abstract

Interoperability is the ability to use resources from diverse origins as if they had been designed as parts of a single system. Over time, individual interoperability problems tend to disappear as the resources involved literally become part of one system through integration and standardization, but the overall problem of interoperability itself never disappears. Instead, it simply moves up to a new level of complexity that accepts earlier integrations as a given. Interoperability is especially critical for military systems, where international politics can lead to abrupt realignments where yesterday's foe becomes today's coalition partner. This report on interoperability has five sections. The first section is an introduction to the interoperability problem, and the second section describes fundamental interoperability concepts and develops a terminology for describing interoperability issues and needs. The second section also addresses the vital issue of interoperability security. The third section is about the processes by which interoperability technologies are standardized, including comparisons of the interoperability benefits of different processes. The fourth section is an overview of a number of emerging information technologies relevant to interoperability, and the fifth section suggests opportunities for further action.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jul 01, 2000
Accession Number
ADA458005

Entities

People

  • Terry Bollinger

Organizations

  • MITRE Corporation

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • C4I
  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Ground and Sea Platforms
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Application Software
  • Computer Program Documentation
  • Computer Program Reliability
  • Computer Programming
  • Computer Programs
  • Computers
  • Graphical User Interface
  • Information Systems
  • Markup Languages
  • Network Protocols
  • Operating Systems
  • Programming Languages
  • User Interface
  • Web Browsers

Readers

  • Business Analytics
  • Enterprise Information Systems Architecture and Joint Command Capability Interoperability Support.
  • Strategic Security Studies