CENTER FOR INTEGRATED FACILITY ENGINEEMNG

A significant development in computing in the 1990s has been the move toward more distributed computer systems through network communication facilities. Instead of viewing computers as individual devices, users want to integrate these physically separate but electronically connected resources into a single logically unified computational environment. Software interoperability has become a major issue for organizations wishing to take advantage of private and open distributed computing facilities. Software interoperability technologies seek to smooth the integration of both legacy and new applications, even on heterogeneous hardware and software platforms. Improved integration not only benefits users within a company but also facilitates the sharing of knowledge with other disciplines and organizations, enhancing the workflow processes. Many companies also have huge investments in legacy systems that they hope to avoid rewriting by using interoperability tools to bring such applications into the network-driven environments of today. This report summarizes the significant issues and terminology used in the field of software interoperability, presents a range of diverse systems and methodologies used to integrate knowledge among programs, and concludes with a new view of interoperability and a novel way of addressing it.