Vision

The Main starting-points for the formation of a strategic research agenda (SRA) and a focused definition of TP for software and services includes the following facts:

  • the software industry as well as the public sector are changing with the influence of globalization on technology innovation, the main stress is forwarded from articles to services, on the business level as well as in information solutions, where monolithic general applications are noticeably moving in the service component direction and, through settings and parameters, in the direction of suitable program solutions,
  • the enforcement of open-source program solutions - OSS, which leads to shaping of new ecosystems, which offer several possibilities as well as rivalry, open standards, software is becoming the public good, empower the transparency, reduce the risk hazards and optimize costs,
  • the increasing literacy of users and their needs for constant access, personalization, usefulness and application simplicity, with reliable and safe transaction capabilities over different platforms - from embedded systems to distributed environments - demands new approaches, concepts and solutions.

According to the NESSI platform vision, we wish to address three horizontal and three vertical fields in connection with these activities. The essence of the horizontal fields is:

  • The infrastructure level expresses the need for:
    • "Plug and play" concept support regardless for the device type, which shows software execution capabilities,
    • Net-focused operation systems, aware of the GRID nets in which they work,
    • A methodology for application migration on new virtual infrastructure models.
  • The integration level of services is based on:
    • Service architecture, enabling the configuration and composition of many services (on a functional and business level),
    • New approaches and tool generations for software and service development,
    • A dynamic reconfiguration "on the fly" without stopping (based on specific adjustments and user culture as well as on extensions without high availability decrease).
  • The semantic level is of key importance for the reshaping of knowledge into information and:
    • Is based on methods, approaches and tools - search enginees on unstructured data, semantic web and ontology, which should enable the efficient communication between computers,
    • Is based on business modeling, which enables semantics for business process management, process reshaping and organization collaboration,
    • Will cause the industry, which is based on knowledge to converge that knowledge with knowledge management!

The vertical fields, which will be addressed by TP for software and services, are the following:

trust and security
consistent handling of people's identity, resources and processes while ensuring trust and privacy, as well as anonymity (as requested in a certain environment)
quality and reliability
end-to-end quality and service reliability, approaches to the improvement of process development of software, quality measurements, reliability declarations - especially important with global distributed systems and services,
management services
management of services life cycle, trust and SLA (QoS) - metrics with QoS indicators, QoS violations, methodology of measurements and supervision, complexity management (new features also), mechanisms of management information distribution, end-to-end coordination, performance and management.

According to the limited fields in TP for software and services workshops we defined more research fields, adjusted to Bulgarian characteristics - the documentation is available at the contact persons of the technology platform.

Strategic NESSI guidance

The NESSI (Networked European Software & Services Initiative) contains very ambitious plans, which Europe should achieve by the years 2010 and 2020. In the following lines we present strategic guidance, suitable as support points during development:

1. European dimensions

NESSI is a holistic value chain in the new knowledge economy, which we would like tto bolster in the near future. During development, there is a great emphasis on the needs and opinions of members themselves. AOne important view is also synchronization between research activities and industry needs, which will minimize unnecessary research and provide as much profit as possible for the industry and, indirectly, industry-dependant people

2. Simplification of information and communication technologies

Europe is behind when it comes to ICT (Information and Communication Technologies) development, the main reason being the relatively small percentage of ICT investment. The hasty introduction of new technologies during the internet boom has forced companies to make difficult decisions, as their previous software and hardware infrastructure has become too complex, hard to maintain and burdened with proprietary costs. Management and maintenance costs have caused a shortage in the budget for innovation investments in new ICT's.

ICT simplification would allow for optimization both among and within organizations. The intelligent structure of program systems, with the help of open standards and virtualization use at ICT maintenance, would simplify management of a company's information systems and enable automation. The fact is that the most-demanded components already exist within most companies and public administrations, and this, additionally, simplifies the situation.

3. Taking over the EU member perspective

A European citizen must benefit directly from the growth of the knowledge economy; whether as an employee, employer or just a consumer of government and commercial services. A broader understanding of new technologies would increase the productivity and enable the larger involvement of people with special needs in society, easier learning, work and interaction with other people.

Main European politics speak in favor of the following improvement views:

  • quality of life
  • connecting
  • access to a better life for citizens, with the help of information and communication technologies

The transition to advanced web services has social advantages and economical influence on development. The connected citizen has access to eHealth, eGovernment, eMarket, insurance, security and all others assets, necessary for a certain level of quality of life.

4. Users

User needs must be considered in the early phases of planning, testing and implementation of ICT's. A true diversity of multicultural approaches is not only echoed on the multicultural interface level but also on the level of different interaction methods.

5. Flexible business and administration process

The key demand for concrete economy politics is the immediate response. Business processes of private companies and public administrations, integrated into end-to-end organizations with partners and suppliers, must be capable of responding to any user demand, market opportunity or other environmental impulses.

In a flexible environment, business and ICT are synchronized and the main advantages are simplicity and agility. Such environments support business models, which are based on components and are a part of horizontal business processes, in which each business change influences the infrastructure.

Activities of new ICTs:

  • transparent support of business plans with the help of service oriented open infrastructure, which allows for optional interactions and connection of applications, processes and defined components,
  • the capability for effective integration,
  • connection of people, processes and information in a fast and effective manner,
  • progress in such a way that each employee has access to everything, everywhere, anytime and each change is determined in real time.

6. Open-source model

New compositions of business process will be enabled through interoperable standards; new challenges will be defined as well as the presentation of demands for new technology solutions for connection and global integration of a larger number of independent and autonomous systems of different companies and organizations.

Open source has been presented as a capable and credible model for the development of qualitative software components and solutions. With these features, new opportunities for a larger number of service providers are created, including small and medium sized companies (SME). It encourages rivalry, which offers advantages to end users and companies due to a decrease in proprietary costs.

Open-source solutions have a positive influence on the industry with the help of business values and close collaboration between companies and open source projects, which enables uninterrupted value processes and increases net effects.

7. Takeover and development of open standards

Today we have structured research in software engineering, services and GRID architecture. However, there is a lack of uniformity while addressing the following generation systems, including distributed operation systems. Europe is rarely present at important debates about standards. All larger software companies are included in global connections movements with the help of organizations like W3C, OASIS, IETF, GGF and others, to continue their industrial strategies; only a few of them are original European actors.

We need to bring the interests and aspects of European business into standard definitions. There is a constant need for wider consultations and standard input. A general development in standards is too slow, therefore we need fast condensed, de-facto standards. Additionally, the development of new products capable of competing with such platforms demands financial investments that one company cannot afford. This can only be executed only on a national level, since companies or societies are not strong enough to follow an ambitious vision of NESSI alone.

8. Eco-system kind to small and large companies

The structuring of "digital landscape" through services, which are based on standards, and enable a new "open source" market. From the consumer's point of view, the services can be accessed according to optional criteria (functionality, quality, cost) from an optional source (a valid player against a new entry market, great standard or small specialized providers). On the provider side, a new service market will be opened, which will offer new opportunities, especially for specialized SME's and companies, which build on regional powers (language, culture, local market conditions). This enables a stronger, multicultural adjustability, program and digital services for user care from different cultures in a society, when business is often international.