Showing papers on "System integration published in 2003"

myGrid: personalised bioinformatics on the information grid

Abstract: Motivation: The my Grid project aims to exploit Grid technology, with an emphasis on the Information Grid, and provide middleware layers that make it appropriate for the needs of bioinformatics. my Grid is building high level services for data and application integration such as resource discovery, workflow enactment and distributed query processing. Additional services are provided to support the scientific method and best practice found at the bench but often neglected at the workstation, notably provenance management, change notification and personalisation. Results: We give an overview of these services and their metadata. In particular, semantically rich metadata expressed using ontologies necessary to discover, select and compose services into dynamic workflows. Availability: Software is available on request from the authors and information from http://www.mygrid.org.uk.

Vertical system integration

Abstract: The Vertical System Integration (VSI) invention herein is a method for integration of disparate electronic, optical and MEMS technologies into a single integrated circuit die or component and wherein the individual device layers used in the VSI fabrication processes are preferably previously fabricated components intended for generic multiple application use and not necessarily limited in its use to a specific application. The VSI method of integration lowers the cost difference between lower volume custom electronic products and high volume generic use electronic products by eliminating or reducing circuit design, layout, tooling and fabrication costs.

Next Generation Application Integration: From Simple Information to Web Services

Abstract: From the Book: In the last several years application integration, at least the notion, has worked its way into most information technology departments. This has been driven by a number of emerging developments including the need to expose information found in existing systems to the Web, the need to participate in electronic marketplaces, the necessity the integrate their supply chain, and more importantly, just enabling their existing enterprise systems to finally share information and common processes. By now we know that application integration is important, thus there is not much need for me to restate that here. What is not as well understood is the amount of planning and coordination that needs to occur in order to pull off application integration today, EAI or B2B, this, despite the availability of some pretty good technology that can make short work of joining systems together. Moreover, while many are interested in application integration few have taken the time to read books such as this, or the books I've written in the past, to better understand both the limitations and the opportunities. More often than not application integration architects are driven more by the hype around the emerging standards and technology and less by their business needs and technology requirements. The end result is many failed projects, more due to lack of knowledge than lack of technology. In essence application integration is less about J2EE versus .NET, and more about understanding the requirements and future growth of the problem domain, a not-so-sexy activity that is all to often left on the side of the road, choosing instead to "management by magazine." Indeed applicationintegration is more of an all-encompassing concept, consisting of, but not limited to metadata, business logic, interfaces, performance management, business processes, workflow, information processing, database integrity, standards strategies, vertical subsystems, accountability, application design, and middleware technology. Application integration is a strategic activity and technology set that can enable an organization to run much more efficiently, and in most instances provide a significant competitive advantage. Why a New Book? If you've been following my writings for the last several years you'll know that this is the third book on application integration, and perhaps the most significant. We need a new book for a few reasons: First, the arrival of a new service-oriented middleware technology standard, web services. As we move further into the world of application integration, we're finding that application service-based approaches make sense for many problem domains. I've stated that in both previous books. Now with the advent of a new service-based approach, web services, we now have another opportunity to put that into perspective. I'll talk about web services and how they related to application integration, albeit this is not a book about web services, just the proper application of web services in application integration problem domain. Second, there is a need to take application integration to the next level. The first book on application integration, Enterprise Application Integration, the first of its kind, covered the basic concepts of allowing two or more business systems to share processes and data. That book was written for the rank beginner since EAI, at least the notion and buzzword, was new. The next book, B2B Application Integration: eBusiness-Enable Your Enterprise, really extended the concepts put forth in the first book to the inter-enterprise problem domain, which reuses many of the same approaches and technologies, but does require knowledge of old and new B2B standards and technologies including XML, EDI, RosssetaNet, BizTalk, ebXML, etc. This book is all about looking at advanced application integration concepts, approaches, and technologies, with many topics typically not covered in the previous books or any other books for that matter. We'll be looking at how to approach very complex and challenging application integration problem domains, and leverage forward-looking concepts and technology, including how to understand your problem domain, determine your requirements, create a logical application integration architecture, and most importantly, backing the correct grouping of application integration technologies into your solution to create an infrastructure that is strategic to the success of your organization. Target Audience This books is written with the technical manager and enterprise architect in mind, those that live on the frontlines of technology everyday and have to make key technology decisions that can make or break their businesses. This does not mean, however, that developers and IT executives won't benefit from this information, especially when it comes to understand application integration in context of their day-to-day activities. What this Book is, What this Books is Not At its essence this is an information technology strategy book with some detailed technology discussion, just enough technology content to support the notions put forth. This book is looking to take an important topic, application integration, to the next level by suggesting certain ways to view the problem that may not have been understood in the past. This means we'll focus on higher-level approaches and solutions, rather than spending a lot of time describing the technologies. There are plenty of other books that do that. For example, while I may talk about the Java Message System (JMS) in terms of the general ideas behind this important standard, at its use in an application integration solution set, you can obtain more details by reading the 200+ page standard found on www.javasoft.com, or other books specifically on JMS. The same can be said about .NET, J2EE, ebXML, and other technologies I'll discuss in this book. Indeed, I will cover the enabling technologies by focusing on their value in solving the application integration problem. For most of you, further research into these technologies or standards won't be required; there will be enough information here. Others, however, looking for implementation level details will have to take a deeper dive using further research outside the scope of this book. Organization This book follows a clearly structure it will make your reading experience more valuable. There are 4 parts: Part I: Types of Application Integration Part II: Application Integration Technology Part III: Application Integration Standards Part IV: Advanced Topics In Part I I'm focusing on the types of application integration approaches you'll find in your problem d other words general approaches to sharing information, processes and application services between any number of applications. It's important that you read this section since it sets up concepts for the rest of the book. Also, if you've read my previous books you'll see how my thinking is morphing after building and implementing a lot of application integration technology. In Part II we'll talk about application integration technology including middleware, and specifically application integration middleware including integration servers and application servers. Once again, we will discuss the technology in terms of their uses within the world of application integration. If you're a middleware god, perhaps you can skip this section, else it will be a good review. In Part III we'll talk about application integration standards. If you've been in this world at all you'll know that standards are the way people are looking to approach this problem rather than vendor solutions. In this section I'll talk about the issues with doing that, as well as describe the standards that are relevant to application integration. In Part IV we'll talk about how you need to approaches your own application integration problem domain, including procedures, methodologies, and techniques that you can employ to improve your chance of success. Moreover, we'll address advanced application integration topics, including the advent of vertically oriented application interaction technology as well as the advanced use of metadata. Other StuffThe Appendixes. There I'll find some useful reference information supporting the core content of the book. While in many cases people skip the appendixes, I urge you to read through what's there. So, if you're moving on to Chapter 1, relax. It will be a painless process, perhaps fun. See you at the end.

A formal approach to MpSoC performance verification

Abstract: Multiprocessor system on chip designs use complex on-chip networks to integrate different programmable processor cores, specialized memories, and other components on a single chip. MpSoC have been become the architecture of choice in many industries. Their heterogeneity inevitably increases with intellectual-property integration and component specialization. System integration is becoming a major challenge in their design. Simulation is state of the art in MpSoC performance verification, but it has conceptual disadvantages that become disabling as complexity increases. Formal approaches offer a systematic alternative. The article presents a technology that uses event model interfaces and a novel event flow mechanism that extends formal analysis approaches from real-time system design into the multiprocessor system on chip domain.

B2B Integration: Concepts and Architecture

Abstract: Business-to-business (B2B) integration is a buzzword which has been used a lot in recent years, with a variety of meanings. Starting with a clear technical definition of this term and its relation to topics like A2A (Application-to-Application), ASP (Application Service Provider), A2A, and B2C (Business-to-Consumer), Christoph Bussler outlines a complete and consistent B2B integration architecture based on a coherent conceptual model. He shows that B2B integration not only requires the exchange of business events between distributed trading partners across networks like the Internet, but also demands back-end application integration within business processes, and thus goes far beyond traditional approaches to enterprise application integration approaches. His detailed presentation describes how B2B integration standards like RosettaNet or SWIFT, the application integration standard J2EE Connector Architecture and basic standards like XML act together in order to enable business process integration. The book is the first of its kind that discusses B2B concepts and architectures independent of specific and short-term industrial or academic approaches and thus provides solid and long-lasting knowledge for researchers, students, and professionals interested in the field of B2B integration.

A multiagent architecture for protection engineering diagnostic assistance

Abstract: Protection engineers use data from a range of monitoring devices to perform post-fault disturbance diagnosis. In the past, heterogeneous intelligent systems have been developed to interpret the data and provide information to engineers to assist with the disturbance diagnosis task. The majority of these systems remain standalone due to the problems associated with systems integration. This paper proposes the use of multiagent systems for providing a flexible and scalable alternative to existing integration approaches. A novel multiagent system (MAS) has been developed entitled protection engineering diagnostic agents (PEDAs) which integrates a legacy SCADA interpretation system with new systems for digital fault recorder (DFR) record interpretation and for enhancing fault record retrieval from remote DFRs. The use of MAS technology provides a flexible and scalable architecture open to the introduction of new data interpretation systems. The paper discusses the benefits of a multiagent approach and the design and implementation of PEDA.

Building a comprehensive clinical information system from components. The approach at Intermountain Health Care.

Abstract: Objectives: To discuss the advantages and disadvantages of an interfaced approach to clinical information systems architecture. Methods: After many years of internally building almost all components of a hospital clinical information system (HELP) at Intermountain Health Care, we changed our architectural approach as we chose to encompass ambulatory as well as acute care. We now seek to interface applications from a variety of sources (including some that we build ourselves) to a clinical data repository that contains a longitudinal electronic patient record. Results: We have a total of 820 instances of interfaces to 51 different applications. We process nearly 2 million transactions per day via our interface engine and feel that the reliability of the approach is acceptable. Interface costs constitute about four percent of our total information systems budget. The clinical database currently contains records for 1.45 m patients and the response time for a query is 0.19sec. Discussion: Based upon our experience with both integrated (monolithic) and interfaced approaches, we conclude that for those with the expertise and resources to do so, the interfaced approach offers an attractive alternative to systems provided by a single vendor. We expect the advantages of this approach to increase as the costs of interfaces are reduced in the future as standards for vocabulary and messaging become increasingly mature and functional.

Integrated Solutions: the Changing Business of Systems Integration

Abstract: The book is organized in three main parts. The first part focuses on the history of systems integration. Contributors trace the early history of systems integration using different industrial examples.

Buying Modular Systems in Technology-Intensive Markets:

Abstract: Technology-intensive markets consist of products that are often interdependent and operate together as a modular system. Although prior research has extensively addressed standardization and network externalities in such markets, it has not addressed the buying of modular systems. The authors identify two focal decision dimensions of the buyer, namely the decision of whether to outsource system integration and the decision of how much to concentrate the purchase of system components with one or more suppliers. The authors develop a comprehensive production- and transaction-cost framework to explain companies' positions on these two decisions. They find that especially leakage and the buyer's know-how, together with the technological volatility the buyer faces, drive the preference for outsourcing system integration and the purchase concentration of system components. An empirical test in the market for telecommunications systems supports the theory developed.

Information management and knowledge integration for enterprise innovation

Abstract: The key trends in emerging ICT integration choices for cost‐effective, flexible knowledge integration, work‐flow‐embedded evaluation and eCRM‐driven value innovation are examined. Enterprise knowledge integration initiatives can create socio‐technical and cultural tensions as well as possible straitjacketing of business process architectures thus suppressing responsive business re‐engineering and causing loss of competitive advantage for some companies. A framework, C‐assure, is presented for optimising knowledge integration, impact analysis and evaluation to support innovation throughout the various interacting enterprise lifecycles.

Medical decision support systems: Old dilemmas and new paradigms? Tracks for successful integration and adoption

Abstract: Objectives: The purpose of this paper is to examine past and present medical decision support systems and the environment in which they operate and to propose specific research tracks that improve integra-tion and adoption of these systems in today’s health care systems. Methods: In preamble, we examine the objectives, decision models, and performances of past decision support systems. Results: Medical decision support tools were essential-ly formulated from a technical capability perspective and this view has met limited adoption and slowed down new development as well as integration of these important systems into patient management work flows and clinical information systems. The sci-ence base of these systems needs to include evidence-based medicine and clinical practice guidelines and the paradigms need to be extended to include a collabora-tive provider model, the users and the organization perspectives. The availability of patient record and medical terminology standards is essential to the dis-semination of decision support systems and so is their integration into the care process. Conclusion: To build new decision support systems based on practice guidelines and taking into account users preferences, we do not so much advocate new technological solutions but rather suggest that technol-ogy is not enough to ensure successful adoption by the users, the integration into practice workflow, and consequently, the realisation of improved health care outcomes.

Intelligent mechatronic components: control system engineering using an open distributed architecture

Abstract: This paper reports the results of case study on application of open distributed software architecture IEC61499 to the organization of intelligence, embedded to smart mechatronic components. The presented approach targets the issues related to integration and reconfiguration of automation systems, where the software integration plays an important role. Based on the testbed studies, a classification of "intelligence classes" is suggested. Several integration and reconfiguration scenarios are illustrated.

Integration von Informationssystemen

Abstract: Standards and techniques relevant to information systems integration are arranged using the development phases conceptual specification, design specification and implementation. Core concepts like XML, SOAP, Schema Matching, EAI and the work of councils to develop reference models for business integration are discussed. Methodical aspects of information systems integration are systematically organized by an integration framework.

BioSPICE: access to the most current computational tools for biologists.

Abstract: The goal of the BioSPICE program is to create a framework that provides biologists access to the most current computational tools. At the program midpoint, the BioSPICE member community has produced a software system that comprises contributions from approximately 20 participating laboratories integrated under the BioSPICE Dashboard and a methodology for continued software integration. These contributed software modules are the BioSPICE Dashboard, a graphical environment that combines Open Agent Architecture and NetBeans software technologies in a coherent, biologist-friendly user interface. The current Dashboard permits data sources, models, simulation engines, and output displays provided by different investigators and running on different machines to work together across a distributed, heterogeneous network. Among several other features, the Dashboard enables users to create graphical workflows by configuring and connecting available BioSPICE components. Anticipated future enhancements to BioSPICE incl...

3D System Integration Technologies

Abstract: In the last years strong efforts were made to miniaturize microelectronic systems. Chip scale packages, flip chips and multichip modules are now commonly used in a great variety of products (e. g. mobile phones, hand-held computers and chip cards). Future microelectronic applications require significantly more complex devices with increased functionality and performance. Due to added device content, chip area will also increase. Performance, multi-functionality and reliability of microelectronic systems will be limited mainly by the wiring between the subsystems (so called “wiring crisis”), causing a critical performance bottleneck for future IC generations. 3D System Integration provides a base to overcome these drawbacks. Furthermore, systems with minimum volume and weight as well as reduced power consumption can be realized for portable applications. 3D integrated systems show reduced chip areas and enable optimized partitioning, both which decrease the fabrication cost of the system. An additional benefit is the enabling of minimal interconnection lengths and the elimination of speed-limiting inter-chip interconnects. 3D concepts which take advantage of wafer level processing to avoid increasing package sizes and expensive single component assembling processes have the potential to integrate passive devices resistors, inductors and capacitors into the manufacturing system and provide full advantage for system performance. The ITRS roadmap predicts an increasing demand for systems-on-a-chip (SoC) [1]. Conventional fabrication is based on embedded technologies which are cost intensive. A new low cost fabrication approach for vertical system integration is introduced. The wafer-level 3D SoC technology, optimized to the capability for chip-to-wafer stacking has the potential to replace embedded technologies based on monolithic integration.

Linking genotype to phenotype: the International Rice Information System (IRIS).

Abstract: The International Rice Information System (IRIS, http://www.iris.irri.org) is the rice implementation of the International Crop Information System (ICIS, http://www.icis.cgiar.org), a database system for the management and integration of global information on genetic resources and germplasm improvement for any crop. Building upon the germplasm genealogy and field data components of ICIS, IRIS is being extended to handle diverse rice genomics data including: genetic mapping, genome annotation, genotype, mutant, transcripteome, proteome and metabolomic data. Users can access information in the database through stand-alone programs and WWW interfaces offering specialist views to researchers with different interests. Availability: http://bioinformatics.org/project/?group id=

Chip-to-wafer stacking technology for 3D system integration

Abstract: Future microelectronic applications require significantly more complex devices: Besides the trend towards higher integration density, there is also a demand for more functionality and increased performance. Due to added device content, chip area will also increase. Performance, multifunctionality and reliability of microelectronic systems will be limited mainly hy the wiring between the subsystems (so called "wiring crisis"). lbis leads to a critical performance bottleneck for future IC generations. 3D System Integration creates a basis tn overcome these drawbacks. Furthermore, systems with minimum volume and weight as well as reduced power consumption can he realized for portable applications. The ITRS roadmap predicts an increasing need for systemson-a-chip (SoC). Conventional fabrication is based on embedded technologies which are cost intensive. 3D integrated systems show reduced chip areas and enable optimized partitioning, both which decrease the fabrication cost of the system. An additional benefit is the enabling of minimal interconnection lengths and the elimination of speedlimiting inter-chip interconnects. Preceding 3D-Approaches: ICV and Face-to-Face

Communication security in multi-agent systems

Abstract: Both, research and application development in the area of multi-agent systems currently undertakes rapid expansion. In order to use multi-agent technology in real applications, it is inevitable to ensure security, integrity and authenticity of inter-agent communication. Various securitysystems, developed for different applications have been used in multi-agent system (MAS). Alternatively, MAS are designed with respect to the specific communication security requirements. This paper describes the architecture and implementation of the security (X-Security) system, which implemets authentication and secure communication among agents. System uses certification authority (CA) and ensures full cooperation of secured agents and already existing (unsecured) agents. Principle of the system integration into already existing MAS is described here as well as possibility of its usage for mobile agents. Paper deals as well with security mechanism's activity during inaccessibility of CA and possibility of CA's recreation. Security system was designed according the FIPA standards.

Extended structured adaptive supervisory control model of shop floor controls for an e-Manufacturing system

Abstract: The high cost and long development cycle of shop floor control systems and the lack of true system integration capabilities are identified as one of the most challenging obstacles in deploying e-Ma...