While the SOA architecture greatly reduces the overall Net-Centric system complexity through the decomposition of system functions into modular services and the development of Community Service Interface Specifications, it does call for increased attention to the process of prototyping, testing, and validating system design decisions. These efforts are best completed within a joint prototyping lab that is chartered to focus on systems integration through effective interoperability architecture and design. This is necessary because:
· To achieve overall system agility and adaptability, system functions that were once performed by a monolithic component are now implemented as a set of loosely coupled services interacting with one another. Each individual service interface must effectively enable many-to-many interoperability. Some more difficult and challenging service interface specifications require prototyping to enhance the design prior to development. This will enhance the quality of the design, reduce the need for subsequent modification, and decrease the interoperability implementation schedule.
· Net-Centric systems shift focus from application-centric performance to the “composite” system behavior where capabilities on the Net are orchestrated together to deliver a mission capability. The prototyping environment enables enhancement of system interoperability design through the investigation of expected aggregated system behavior. It also enables the testing of how services behave when orchestrated in multiple configurations to meet several mission threads in a dynamic environment where mission needs may change rapidly.
· A prototyping environment with simulation capabilities enables experimentation and prediction of aggregate system performance in a variety of Net-Centric physical environments from fixed sites with significant and reliable bandwidth to edge computing with bandwidth constraints and occasional connectedness. This will enhance interoperability design and also provide valuable information on the computing hardware and software infrastructure required to achieve Net-Centric systems success throughout the GIG.
· The prototype environment also provides a means to demonstrate a Net-Centric system in a controlled environment. This capability is crucial for gaining senior leader champions of the Net-Centric SOA approach and in building momentum and enhancing the change management aspects of this critical technology transformation initiative.
Although service interoperability testing is normally the job of the service consumer in a large and open marketplace, in smaller communities a leveraged CoI prototyping and testing environment can significantly advance SOA/Net-Centricity adoption. However, this capability is basically shared infrastructure and therefore faces all the challenges associated with funding and managing shared infrastructure that supports cross organization utilization.
Comments