Background

Service-Oriented Architecture is starting to be widely adopted. It provides enterprise agility, and can make enterprise information available throughout the enterprise as needed, delivering Boundaryless Information FlowTM. But this implies that software services must process information of different kinds, represented in different ways. That is, it requires Semantic Interoperability.

This need for Semantic Interoperability will become still greater if current expectations are realised for how SOA will develop, in combination with Web 2.0, and how enterprises will develop, with externalization of information.

The Open Group conference in Paris includes streams on SOA, on Semantic Interoperability, and on future trends, which many are now labeling "Web 3.0". The ideas presented in these streams will be the background for the discussion of the Semantic Interoperability open meeting.

Objectives

The purpose of the meeting is to establish the role of The Open Group's Semantic Interoperability Working Group, and to outline the steps to be taken so that the Working Group can fill this role.

The following proposed Mission Statement and Work Program will be the basis of this discussion.

Mission

The mission of the Semantic Interpretability Working Group is to further the use of Semantic Technology within the Enterprise. This will be accomplished by producing deliverables that prove Semantic technology is real today.

Work Program

The Semantic Interpretability Working Group will address this mission through the following projects.

UDEFThe UDEF Project will continue to pursue its Charter under the leadership of Ron Schuldt. The realization of this effort is to establish the UDEF as part of the big Semantic picture. Semantics and SOASOA is being treated as the enablement platform of the future. If SOA is about integration at the syntactic level, Semantic Technology will provide that next level of interoperability. Vocabulary ManagementThe understanding of vocabulary is integral in the success of Semantic technology, in order to make Semantic technology real in the enterprise the processes, governance and tools around semantic technology need to be furthered. Semantics and TOGAFThis project will work on the integration of Semantic technology in the Open Group Architecture Framework.

Agenda

Thursday April 26, 2007
11:00	Welcome and Introductions by meeting chair Sam Ceccola, Deputy CTO, BEA.
11:10	Mission of the Semantic Interoperability Working Group Discussion of draft Mission Statement.
11:30	Work Program Discussion of proposed Work Group projects.
12:15	Next Steps Election of Work Group officers and formation of project teams.
12:30	Close

Related Meetings

In addition to this meeting, the conference program includes:

• A Semantic Interoperability conference stream;
• A conference stream on Web 3.0: the convergence of SOA, the Semantic Web, and Intelligent Agents;
• A UDEF Open Meeting, including an in-depth UDEF training session.