Service-Oriented Middleware for Managing Inter-Enterprise Collaborations

Participation in electronic business networks has become necessary for the success of enterprises. The strategic business needs for participating in multiple networks simultaneously and for managing changes in these networks are reflected as new requirements for the supporting computing facilities. The Pilarcos architecture addresses the needs of managed collaboration and interoperability of autonomous business services in an inter-organisational context. The Pilarcos B2B middleware is designed for lowering the cost and effort of collaboration establishment and to facilitate the management and maintenance of electronic business networks. The approach is a federated one: All business services are developed independently, and the provided B2B middleware services are used to ensure that technical, semantic, and pragmatic interoperability is maintained in the business network. In the architecture and middleware functionality design, attention has been given to the dynamic aspects and evolution of the network. This chapter discusses the concepts provided for application and business network creators, and the supporting middleware-level knowledge repositories for interoperability support.