Dynamic Aspects of Industrial Middleware Applications

1
Dynamic Aspects of Industrial Middleware
Applications
Sergiy Nikitin
Public examination of the dissertation 25.03.11,
1200, Villa Rana, Blomstedt hall
sergiy.nikitin_at_gmail.com
2
Industrial Ontologies Group one more thesis
Group supervised by Prof. Vagan Terziyan
vagan.terziyan_at_jyu.fi
3
Who is this guy?
4
Contents

• What is middleware and what architectures are
  available?

• Industry vs. Middleware

• Dynamics and key aspects in industrial software

• How to keep it simple?

• Conclusions

5
What is middleware?

• Middleware is computer software that
  connects software components or some people and
  their applications. The software consists of a
  set of services that allows multiple processes
  running on one or more machines to interact.

Source wikipedia (http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mi
ddleware)
6
Middleware is
7
Middleware is
8
A honest confession

• Middleware is a fine-grained standalone runnable
  API allowing to connect your IT-system to other
  software
• It is running somewhere independently
• It provides clear API to access it
• It may connect to or use other software

9
So, where is middleware?
10
Youre right!

• Middleware is in the middle! ?

11
Industry perspective
12
Production line life time
1980
1990
2000
2010
2020
2030
13
Product suppliers perspective

• We want our software to
• Integrate with legacy systems (still cheaper than
  build new ones)
• Integrate with new components
• Establish new networked business processes at no
  pain and fast
• Be ready to meet unforeseen customer wishes and
  requests

14
Middleware vs. industry

• Middleware is used to
• provide interoperability 
• simplify complex distributed applications
• support application development and delivery
• Middleware in IT
• based on XML, SOAP, Web services,
  and service-oriented architecture
• includes web servers, application servers, and
  similar tools

• Industry looks for ways to
• lower the product cost
• offer a competitive advantage but stay within
  attractive price boundaries
• ICT-solutions (of any type) supplied with the
  product are getting more and more complex, thus
  becoming a burden for a product price

15
Middleware today

• IBM middleware services
• SAP NetWeaver (SOA middleware)
• Oracle Fusion Middleware
• Microsoft SharePoint

16
A middleware marketing outlook

• Oracle Fusion Middleware
• Complete
• Integrated
• Hot-pluggable
• Best-of-Breed

• Enterprise application server
• Integration- and process-management
• Application development tools
• Business intelligence
• Systems management
• User interaction
• Content management

• Enables
• Agile and Intelligent Business Applications
• Exporting new HW and SW architectures
• App-Centric approach to security
• Connecting people, processes and applications

http//www.oracle.com/us/products/middleware/index
.html
17
But why is it still so hard?

• It is great and powerful, but

18
Want to become a pilot?
19
And what about customers?

• They rather appreciate coffee you serve on board,
  than a complexity of your plane

20
A bit of controversy

• Industry wants middleware to be

• As simple to use as e.g. coffee maker

• As efficient as A380

21
How to make middleware simple?

• Make it smart
• Delegate the complexity to intelligent self-aware
  tools, able to manage themselves

22
Simple yet smart middleware?

• We want it to be

but what are the preconditions for that?
23
What middleware seed we need?

• A proper seed is a language that supports
• Extensive usage of consistent feature-rich
  vocabulary for content management
• Vocabulary-based annotations of services,
  applications, etc.
• Vocabulary-based connector and adapter framework

24
What middleware soil we need?
25
A middleware sprout
26
GUN Environment (A middleware field)
GUN Global Understanding eNvironment
GUN Global Environment Global Understanding
Proactive Self-Managed Semantic Web of
Everything
http//www.mit.jyu.fi/ai/OntoGroup/projects.htm
http//www.mit.jyu.fi/ai/Industrial_Ontologies_Gr
oup_booklet_print.doc
27
Global Understanding Environment (GUN)
GUN can be considered as a kind of Ubiquitous
Eco-System for Ubiquitous Society, which will be
such proactive, self-managed evolutionary
Semantic Web of Things, People and Abstractions
where all kinds of entities can understand,
interact, serve, develop and learn from each
other.
Human-to-Human
Human-to-Machine
Machine-to-Human
Machine-to-Machine
Agent-to-Agent
Software-to-Human
Software-to-Machine
Software-to-Software
Human-to-Software

28
Conclusions

• Middleware is about minimizing programmer efforts
  when developing complex distributed applications
• Middleware architectures themselves are getting
  too complex, therefore the utility of those is
  decreasing
• The complexity can be tackled by involving
  intelligent goal-driven entities and tools that
  are only applicable, when a certain degree of
  disambiguation and detail achieved within the
  environment
• True utility of new middleware can be achieved
  when a programming language and development tools
  provide native support for above mentioned
  features

29
But we should keep the button ?