?? Original Research Paper 151

Chemometrics and Intelligent Laboratory Systems: Laboratory Information Management, 13 (1991) 151-156 Elsevier Science Publishers B.V., Amsterdam

Open systems: myths and reality *

John Spiers Oracle Corporation UK Ltd., The Oracle Centre, The Ring, Bracknell RG12 1BW (UK)

(Received 23 April 1991; accepted 18 July 1991)

Abstract

Spiers, J., 1991. Open systems: myths and reality. Chemometrics and Intelligent Laboratov Systems: Laboratory Information Management, 13: 151-156.

Reading the computing press, one can be forgiven for believing that Information Technology (IT) today is largely about open systems. Unfortunately, we are rarely told precisely what ‘open systems’ means. This paper traces the origins of the open systems movement, and identifies the key business and software issues to be faced in building IT solutions for the future. It then moves on to examine the impact of these trends on both IT vendors and their customers.

THE ROLE OF SOFTWARE

Computers achieve their generality through software. Software creates a logical independence between the application and the physical hard- ware technology upon which it is implemented. It is this independence that distinguishes the gen- eral-purpose computer from other approaches to automation and that has provided the basis for the rapid and widespread adoption of computer- based solutions over the last 25 years.

Operating systems and compilers allow the construction and execution of a wide range of applications, capable of running on a single gen- eral-purpose piece of hardware. Furthermore,

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hardware vendors have generally sought to pro- vide upwards-compatible environments, such that their customers’ existing applications can exploit new hardware developments with minimum change.

As a result the software environment has been the traditional fiefdom of hardware vendors. In- deed in the early days of computing, systems software was rarely regarded as important - it was something that was simply given away to enable the hardware to work. There was no con- cept of software licensing, since software had no perceived intellectual property value; accountants did not know how to handle it because it had no physical existence and therefore could not easily be capitalised.

Things began to change in the early 1970s when IBM started the process of unbundling. From this has grown a distinct software industry covering not just applications but also indepen-

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Fig. 1. Information requirements in a typical pharmaceutical environment.

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Fig. 2. Pharmaceuticals information systems environment.

?? Original Research Paper 153

dent systems software. Compilers were probably the first area to establish the possibility of sys- tems software supplied other than by hardware vendors, but it has been databases - through the successive generations of network, CODASYL and more recently relational - which have brought this concept to maturity.

Yet much of this software technology has still been tied to specific hardware vendors’ plat- forms. Software has not often been seen as the vehicle to provide a more wide-reaching indepen- dence between applications software and hard- ware - to allow the construction of truly hard- ware-independent applications systems. More- over, the software business is still in many re- spects dominated by hardware vendors. IBM’s software revenues exceed US$ 10 billion per an- num [l] and are estimated to be greater than those of the top 50 independent software vendors added together; this is the key to the account loyalty enjoyed by IBM.

Today, there is a clear need for integrated information systems, spanning multiple locations, multiple applications and multiple groups of users. These systems will inevitably mix different technologies from different vendors, and must be able to evolve to embrace new technologies and requirements throughout their life.

Fig. 1 illustrates the information requirements in a typical pharmaceutical environment. A num- ber of departments - development, medical and commercial - each require a number of inte- grated information systems to support their vari- ous activities. In addition, information needs to flow and to be shared between these depart- ments, as well as with overall project manage- ment and regulatory affairs.

Fig. 2 shows the kind of information systems architecture that this leads to. Different functions in different departments will have undoubtedly acquired solutions at different points in time; each will have wished to exercise its own choice as to the most functional and cost-effective solu- tion to its specific needs. Inevitably this leads to a heterogeneous IT environment - different com- puters (proprietary minis, Unix, PCs, worksta- tions and perhaps mainframes), different operat- ing systems, different network types and different

information formats. And yet to operate effi- ciently, and to fully exploit information across functions, there is clearly a need to integrate these incompatible technologies, and indeed to be able to upgrade and add new systems in the future.

An integrated approach to information sys- tems needs to provide not only technology and vendor independence, but also support for inter- operability across these technologies to provide integrated solutions. This is the key challenge addressed by today’s open systems movement.

It is intriguing to note that the open systems movement has grown out of the increasing adop- tion of the Unix operating system. The primary role of Unix has been to allow new hardware vendors to bring new hardware technologies to the market, without incurring the time and cost overheads involved in developing a custom soft- ware environment. At the same time, but some- what incidentally, Unix has alerted the user com- munity to the advantages to be gained from fully exploiting the separation and independence of hardware and software.

THE SYSTEMS OF THE 90s

The last ten years have seen a gradual but nevertheless complete and revolutionary change in our industry. Not for nothing has the acronym DP (data processing) been replaced by IT (infor- mation technology).

Information is the fourth resource, to be added to the traditional business resources of people, money and physical resources. Information sys- tems exist to manage, communicate and share the information resource amongst the full spectrum of applications and users. Today’s systems there- fore are increasingly seen in terms of information first and processing second.

The complexity of the underpinning technolo- gies has similarly undergone major change. Com- puters themselves have in fact changed very little over twenty or more years: they are cheaper, faster and bigger and can continue to progress in this direction, particularly through the use of commodity components and parallel techniques;

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functionally, however, today’s systems are virtu- ally indistinguishable from their predecessors and from each other. But today’s systems are not about computers and processing, they are about information, communications and applications. In physical terms, the systems comprise firstly infor- mation storage and management, secondly com- munications networks, and thirdly processors whose job it is to execute plug-in applications and to support the wide variety of user interfaces that the systems must provide.

From these perspectives, the rate of change which the IT industry faces is immeasurable. The possibilities are limited only by the vision. Low cost processing and continuing innovations in communications and user interface technologies will open up myriad new applications in every imaginable field. IT will become ubiquitous, pro- vided the industry can exploit the technical possi- bilities, address the real business challenges and do something to address the productivity issues which bedevil the whole field.

MEETING THE CHALLENGES

Thus the challenges to be faced lie primarily in building and maintaining large-scale distributed integrated information systems. Yet where are the software techniques and technologies to allow the construction of systems to meet these new challenges? The IT industry has inherited virtu- ally unchanged the tools and techniques of the DP era with its focus on processing and hardware upgradability, rather than on information and integration.

The complexity of the systems that are now beginning to be envisaged can only be dealt with through techniques of modularity and reusability. Solutions must be based not just on tools, but also on sound engineering techniques to guide the use of those tools, and on prebuilt functional components. This is a lesson that has been learned and applied by every engineering discipline.

At the same time, the industry must recognise that heterogeneity is a key and inevitable charac- teristic of future systems. Complex systems must be built incrementally, and must be capable of

evolution; systems will inevitably span a range of hardware types, generations and technologies. The approach to building IT solutions must em- brace heterogeneity and encourage the exploita- tion of the many opportunities it brings.

OPEN SYSTEMS

These challenges provide the real basis for the emergence of the concepts of open systems - the need to create an environment which can provide modularity and reusability across hetero- geneous components, embracing information, networking and processing elements, both hard- ware and software.

More fundamentally, open systems ideas are about fully realising the role of software in creat- ing an applications environment which is inde- pendent of the physical implementation. Such an environment must concern itself with three major areas:

Firstly, the whole systems environment needs to be driven by a shared repository (or data dictionary), holding complete and integrated in- formation about the underlying business and sys- tems requirements, rather than the traditional focus on existing procedures, systems and tech- nologies. This level of abstraction provides a basis from which systems can remain independent of specific implementation technologies and which can evolve as the technology, or indeed the re- quirements, change in the future.

Secondly, integrated information systems must provide dynamic interoperability at every level, not just in network terms. Different applications and processors need to exchange information in- telligently and interactively in real-time, typically over a network.

Thirdly, the systems approach must deal with the user interface issue. User interfaces will con- tinue to evolve and adapt - not only to provide new levels of functionality and usability, but also to provide distinction and differentiation where it counts most, in what the consumer sees. Software solutions must match users’ requirements and expectations both in terms of functionality and

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choice of look-and-feel, and increasingly also in terms of choice of national language.

THE ROLE OF STANDARDS

Heterogeneity will become the key feature of future information systems, and cannot be re- garded as a ‘bug’ to be eliminated by standardisa- tion. Proprietary and commodity systems will con- tinue to coexist with their corresponding de facto and de jure standards; new technologies, and with them new standards struggling to keep up, will continue to emerge at a faster and faster rate. A simplistic adherence to a narrow set of standards represents perhaps the biggest technol- ogy lock-in of all; and standards processes are of course still largely dominated by vendors.

Standards can therefore never be the solution, but standards can provide a very important tool or baseline from which to move forward to em- brace the opportunities provided by heteroge- neous systems. Standards should be exploited to promote heterogeneity not applied legislatively to eliminate it.

Standards and technologies in the following areas will be key to the success of integrated IT solutions: - Dictionary requirements: data dictionaries, in- terchange formats and access languages, for fully exploiting the benefits of a systematic approach to defining business requirements and generating applications. - Interoperability requirements: procedure call and data access formats and protocols; protocols for distributed applications spanning multiple geographic locations; tools for managing the com- plexities of today’s networks. - User interface requirements: functional user interfaces incorporating new styles of information such as graphics, video, sound and natural lan- guage; new applications paradigms such as direct on-screen manipulation of complex objects, multi-media, and a non-procedural approach to information retrieval and manipulation; toolkits for exploiting these new opportunities, flexibly and efficiently, and to provide a coherent user view across diverse applications.

THE IMPACT ON VENDORS

The pressures for compatibility in both hard- ware and software technologies arise largely from a new focus in IT departments. IT activity is correctly moving away from the technology to- wards a real focus on addressing the business needs.

Frequently, IT solutions have been built bot- tom up, driven by the technology: hardware first, moving secondly to software to meet the applica- tions requirements, with communications fre- quently being addressed only as an afterthought if at all.

IT activity in the 90s needs to be driven by the business requirements. This will focus firstly on software to meet those requirements, secondly on communications to deliver the functionality to where it is needed, with hardware, particular processing, being plugged in as and where re- quired. Technology which is incompatible with the communications, software and business in- frastructure that has been laid down will simply be rejected in favour of compatible alternatives.

This changing focus positions technology in its rightful place. As in any other mature industry a basic level of compatibility should be assured. Suppliers will be forced to concentrate on real technical innovation, and to take steps to ensure that the benefits of new technology are delivered to customers in a palatable form. In turn this will assure the success of genuine technical advances delivered in open systems frameworks. Thus the move to open systems not only fuels the develop- ment of real innovations but also ensures that users can exploit them effectively within existing environments.

OPEN LOCK-IN

Thus the open systems movement is primarily about freedom of choice. This freedom provides assurance into the future - an assurance that the customer will be able to assimilate new devel- opments rather than being held back by a single supplier or by obsolete technology. However, just as an insurance policy does not indicate a wish to

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suffer the insured loss, so an open systems policy does not signal a wish to claim either, provided the preferred supplier can meet the requirements in technology, integration, quality and service.

In turn, this will lead to a clearer polarisation of IT vendors into niche technology suppliers, and full-service solutions suppliers. As in any other mature industry, many customers will pre- fer to procure large parts of their solutions from a single supplier, rather than adopt a DIY ap- proach. A solutions approach can provide bene- fits in terms of cost, integration and ease of implementation. Provided technology indepen- dence is guaranteed, such an approach will not jeopardise the integrity of the solution.

Many established IT vendors have clearly recognised the opportunities of ‘open lock-in’ and based their forward strategies upon it. In an era of open systems, customers will lock themselves into the supplier who is most open. The ability of suppliers to continue to deliver real technical innovation within the open framework will deter- mine who will succeed and who will fail.

DELIVERING THE BENEFITS OF OPEN SYSTEMS

Over recent years, the gap between our vision of our systems requirements and the reality has continued to grow. This gap has been labelled the applications backlog: organisations could not build their systems quickly enough, and as hard- ware costs fell so the backlog grew as more and more systems became viable. Yet now, new gen- erations of requirements are emerging - enter- prise-wide information systems, direct integration with customers’ and suppliers’ systems, the inte- gration of office automation into the information systems environment, and so on. To meet these challenges requires organisations to adopt a con- sistent enterprise-wide approach to IT, designed to meet the specific needs of the business.

Information technology is now a huge busi- ness, yet its production methods still bear a strong resemblance to those of a cottage industry. Steps must be taken to close the widening gap between

the technology and the ability to build applica- tions to exploit it. Software engineering tech- niques and tools provide part of the answer. The industry simply must adopt the most productive methods available for building systems, and needs to work to continue to improve its techniques to achieve the sorts of productivity gains that have been seen in more traditional engineering fields. Object-oriented techniques offer great promise as a semi-formal approach to modularity, and hence as a means of delivering reusable software in a way which parallels the component-based ap- proach of such fields.

It is also in closing this gap that standards have their key role. Standards provide a basis on which new technologies can be delivered in palatable form. Already, many organisations are setting their IT procurement policies around key rele- vant standards. Traditionally, however, the stan- dards processes have been dominated by vendors and have been technology-led, not applications- led; increasingly, the standards processes will be applications-led, owned by users and imposed on vendors.

At the same time system builders must recog- nise the role of existing systems and particularly avoid the need to undertake costly conversions which conflict with business priorities. A stable user interface supported by integration tools can serve as an effective bridge across different gen- erations of systems.

Perhaps most importantly, the IT industry must ensure that management understands the role and opportunities that IT can provide. Informa- tion systems have a key role to play in creating new procedures, new systems and new opportuni- ties in the 90s provided that the technology can be successfully applied to the growing business challenges.

REFERENCE

1 C.H. Friedman, International Business Machines - Re- search Highlights, Bear Stearns & Co. Inc., New York, 25 January 1991.