18 Semantics of Enterprise Integration II

Mark Lycett
Brunel University, mark.lycett@brunel.ac.uk
Paul Allen
Computer Associates, paul.allen@ca.com
Sergio de Cesare
Brunel University, sergio.decesare@brunel.ac.uk
Grant Holland
Sun Microsystems, Grant.Holland@sun.com
David Piper
Aonix Europe Ltd., david.piper@aonix.com

Business systems integration has become increasingly significant, requiring growing levels of investment and resources. The integration of such systems, however, is not just technical in nature but spans the interrelated dimensions of people, organization and technology. The primary challenge concerns effective communication and coordination within and across these dimensions and the definition of common business semantics provides a key issue.

Current approaches to semantic interoperability include ontologies, services and agency. Ontology-based approaches seek to define common domain terminologies. Service-based approaches concentrate on the specification of business capability and behavior. Agency-based approaches provide mechanisms for negotiation and resolution of conflicts. Such approaches are coupled with emerging and consolidated technologies (e.g. XML) that have the potential of providing effective solutions to the problem of enterprise integration.

This workshop is aimed at facilitating and spawning discussion on the issues surrounding enterprise integration. More specifically, participants will be invited to:

Identify key obstacles in relation to semantic interoperability of systems;

Improve the State-of-the-Art in the definition and representation of the semantics in enterprise and systems integration;

Instigate collaborative research efforts among the participants.

This workshop is addressed to all academics, researchers and practitioners interested in approaches aimed at achieving the integration of enterprise systems at all levels.

Workshop URL: http://www.fluidbusiness.org/events/sei2002_workshop/.