\documentclass[12pt]{report} \pagestyle{plain} \chapter{Interoperable Systems: an introduction} \section*{Anthony Finkelstein}

This short chapter introduces interoperable systems and attempts to distinguish the principal research strands in this area. It is not intended as a review. Significant review material is integrated with each of the succeeding chapters. It is rather intended to whet the appetite for what follows and to provide some initial conceptual orientation. This book concerns the architecture, modelling and management of interoperable computing systems. Our collective research agenda addresses all aspects of interoperable systems development, including the business and industry requirements and environments for distributed information services. Our definition of interoperability is a broad one (it can be usefully contrasted with the rather narrow definition implicit in Wegner, 1996). Interoperable systems are systems composed from autonomous, locally managed, heterogeneous components, which are required to cooperate to provide complex services. Such systems are generally distributed and have significant non-functional constraints on their operation. The systems are open and are subject to continuing change. Interoperability is that property of components and of the means by which the components are composed which ensures that they jointly meet the service requirement