Viewpoint consistency in ODP

As telecommunications networks and services are getting larger and more complex, telecommunication service providers around the world are desperately looking for solutions to manage and control them. A telecommunications management network (TMN) has been envisioned to provide a framework for the operation, administration, maintenance and provisioning (OAM&P) of telecommunications networks and services in today's open, multi-vendor environment. Due to the inherent distributed nature of managing systems and managed systems, supporting distributed processing is an essential requirement in TMN. This paper examines the general requirements for supporting distributed processing for the purpose of open distributed management in TMN and proposes a solution which is based on the integrated use of two distributed processing technologies: the X.500 Directory Service and the ODP (Open Distributed Processing) Trader.

This paper presents a translation between the formal description technique LOTOS and the object-oriented specification language Object-Z. The need for such a translation lies in the use of formal methods in viewpoint specification, and in particular in the Open Distributed Processing standard. The use of viewpoints as a set of partial interlocking specifications brings an obligation to check the consistency of these partial specifications, and to do so we need to relate specifications written in differing languages. The work presented here supports the consistency checking of viewpoints written using formal methods by defining a translation from full LOTOS to Object-Z. A common semantic model is provided for the languages, and we verify the translation with respect to this model. The translation is illustrated with a small example.

The Reference Model for Open Distributed Processing (RM-ODP) defines a framework for the development of Open Distributed Processing (ODP) systems in terms of five viewpoints. Each viewpoint language defines concepts and rules for specifying ODP systems from the corresponding viewpoint. However, the ODP viewpoint languages are abstract and do not show how these should be represented. We treat in this paper the need for formal notation for behavioural concepts in the enterprise language. Using the Unified Modeling Language and Object Constraints Language UML/OCL, we define a formal semantics for a fragment of ODP behaviour concepts defined in the RM-ODP foundations part and in the enterprise language. We mainly focus on time, action, behaviour constraints, and policies. These concepts are suitable for describing and constraining the behaviour of the ODP enterprise viewpoint specifications.

The author explains what management of a distributed system is and why it is needed in an open distributed processing (ODP) environment. An ODP environment is characterized by very large numbers of computer systems which interact to support a diverse range of applications. The author defines the basic management concept of a managed object and introduces the domain as a means of grouping objects to specify management policy and structure the overall management to cope with the complexity of an ODP environment. Management is related to the five viewpoints (enterprise, information, computation, engineering, and technology) defined within the ODP reference model. Problems in using the open systems interconnection management framework for distributed systems are also discussed.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>

The Telecommunications Information Networking Architecture (TINA) defines a framework to support the rapid and flexible deployment and management of a wide range of multi-media, multi-party services in a multi-vendor telecommunications environment. The TINA approach applies opendistributed processing (ODP) and object-oriented design techniques to specify the control and management of the telecommunications services and infrastructure. Management in TINA is applied to the different components of the architecture, services and resources, and to thedistributed processingenvironment (DPE) that provides distribution transparencies and communication capabilities among TINA components. Management in TINA is based on TMN and extended with ODP concepts, as TINA is not concerned with just network management, but also systems management. TINA management architecture addresses aspects of distribution, interoperability, dynamic manager/managed roles, and integration with service control functions. TINA service management concerns different activities of the service life-cycle, from four main aspects: access session management, service session management, user session management and communication session management. The TINA network resource model supports requirements from both network management activities and service connectivity needs.

A specification architecture for multimedia systems in Open Distributed Processing

Recent developments in high-speed networks and highperformance workstations have led to the emergence of a new class of applications termed distributed multimedia applications. However, the range of distributed systems architectures currently being proposed to support open systems integration were largely conceived prior to these developments. Initial work directed towards the introduction of multimedia in environments compatible with ISO's Open Distributed Processing (ODP) standard has suggested that significant developments to the underlying architecture are required. These developments are now being reflected in new versions of the ODP standard. However, OSF's Distributed Computing Environment (DCE), currently emerging as a de-facto standard for distributed processing, does not fully address the requirements of multimedia computing. This paper reports on the impact that multimedia has had on the ODP community and examines how the community's experiences can be used as a basis for incorporating multimedia in DCE.KeywordsMultimedia ApplicationRemote Procedure CallDistribute Computing EnvironmentContinuous InterfaceBinding InformationThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

The ODAC methodology (Open Distributed Applications Construction) aims to provide a designer of agent-based systems with a set of methods and tools to allow him/her to control the construction process complexity of such systems. It enables software engineers to specify agent-based systems that will be implemented within an execution environment, for example a mobile agent platform. Our work is based on the Open Distributed Processing (ODP) standards and the agent paradigm.

Interoperability between autonomous decentralized systems needs support of an information service that can provide dynamic knowledge about available service providers within the network. We describe trading service. Trading is an essential infrastructure function indicated by the ODP (open distributed processing) reference model, a meta model of heterogeneous distributed processing. The purpose of trading is to support location transparency of services: it hides the location of service providers, even if they are located in separate, autonomous domains. Cooperation between trading service providers (trader) supports federation transparency, i.e. hides differences of technology used in separate domains. In cooperation, the traders have to mediate service type differences, negotiate policy differences and tolerate technology differences between domains. Together with other fundamental functions trading offers a platform for open distributed computing between autonomous subsystems.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>

Shared care concepts such as managed care or disease management require extended communication and co-operation between all parties directly or indirectly involved in the patient’s care. The informational view on the shared patient is established by a comprehensive electronic health record (EHR) which has to be communicable, interoperable, and portable. Due to the lifetime of such an EHR, the underlying architecture must be open, flexible, and future proof. Because of the sensitivity of personal medical information, EHR and its communication have to be established and performed trustworthy. The solution consists of components reflecting constraint models according to the ISO Reference Model — Open Distributed Processing by inheritance and overriding mechanisms. The paper presents the latest technology introduced for meeting the challenges mentioned. Architectural principles and security solutions introduced are issues of ongoing standardisation efforts the author participates into.

This paper discusses the issues of specification style and refinement that arise in connection with viewpoint modelling. In particular, we consider the support needed in order to deal with viewpoints at different levels of abstraction. The motivation for this work arises from the use of viewpoints in distributed systems design, in particular the Open Distributed Processing standard. Full proceedings of the workshop it was presented at can be found on WWW: A. Finkelstein and G. Spanoudakis (eds.): http://web.soi.city.ac.uk/homes/gespan/VP F SE.html, ACM SIGSOFT Foundations of Software Engineering 4, 1996.

The reference model of open distributed computing (RM-ODP) provides a framework for specifying a system. It is directly applicable to the specification of a business object. This paper presents a very brief overview of ODP, a discussion of the current ODP enterprise viewpoint work, and a sketch of an ODP specification of a business object.

TINA – Architectural basis for future telecommunications services

Service mobility and the personalisation of services are main concerns of a modern telecommunication environment. In addition, cooperation among services and a simple presentation form to the end-user are of extraordinary importance as well. To fulfil these requirements, a user defined environment called Personal Services Communication Space (PSCS) is under development by the RACE II project Mobilise (R2003). This concept has to take into account all involved players and their specific requirements. The main features of PSCS are: personal mobility based on UPT, personalisation to have personal working environments for end-users, and interoperability to have effective interworking between different services offered on heterogeneous networks. The PSCS Conceptual Framework is primarily based on the Intelligent Network Conceptual Model (INCM) with extensions taken from Open Distributed Processing (ODP).

This paper presents a methodology for the specification and design of multi-domain management systems that control, monitor and administer users and services in a distributed telecommunication environment. It presents a framework, which serves as a blueprint for the design and implementation of distributed management applications. It defines a set of concepts and methods for guiding the analysis, design, and implementation phases of management applications, which are distributed over heterogeneous systems. The framework is based on concepts of Telecommunications Management Networks and Open Distributed Processing, and is partially developed within the Pan-European Reference Configuration for IBC (Integrated Broadband Communication) Services Management (PRISM) project.