ESC enters pioneering agreement with Software Engineering Institute

  • Published
  • By Chuck Paone
  • 66 ABW Public Affairs
HANSCOM AIR FORCE BASE, Mass. --  The Electronic Systems Center yesterday became the first organization to enter into agreement with Carnegie Mellon's Software Engineering Institute to use a special software analysis approach developed by SEI. 

After helping to refine the methodology, ESC has now become licensed to use the Service Migration and Reuse Technique, referred to as SMART. The technique helps organizations develop sound strategies for migrating legacy systems to service-oriented architectures, or SOAs. 

Based on the engineering principle of loose coupling, SOAs manage software system interactions using standardized interfaces. Using a services-oriented approach helps move from a set of interlocked, point-to-point interfaces to more effective means of interoperability and data sharing, said Dr. Tim Rudolph, ESC's chief technology officer.
 
"Rather than trying to just tie together a bunch of stove-piped systems, SOAs integrate capabilities by exposing information and functionality as services," he said. "Ultimately, this allows users greatly enhanced flexibility in how they acquire, expose, combine and use data." 

However, while SOA has become something of a 'buzzword,' Dr. Rudolph said it's important to look past the buzz and examine what migrating to SOAs really entails. That means looking at both risks and potential benefits. 

"We expect SMART to help us conduct the kind of rigorous analysis that allows us to make the best decisions," Dr. Rudolph said. 

Sometimes, that analysis will show that for certain legacy systems - such as those nearing the end of their lifecycle - the cost and effort of migration may exceed the anticipated value. For other systems, where migration does make sense, SMART will help ESC engineers and program managers examine all aspects, including cost and complexity, so they can do it most effectively. 

The technique will also help managers understand real-world challenges, Dr. Rudolph said. 

"We can't just shut a system down for three or four years," he said. "Warfighters are depending on these systems, so we have to figure out how to maintain existing capabilities while transitioning the parts of systems that it makes sense to transition." 

The SEI will train and certify qualified ESC personnel to use the SMART methodology. The training process is conducted at three tiers. The first, most general step will likely be conducted at Hanscom, so that many can participate. A select number of ESC officials will travel to Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburg for the more advanced levels. 

"The Air Force is looking to transform its approach to information technology," said Electronic Systems Center Commander Lt. Gen. Ted Bowlds. "We need to take advantage of services-oriented approaches and leverage broadly used commercial technology developed by small innovators and large IT providers. This requires a rigorous, comprehensive systems engineering process. ESC and the Air Force are pleased to be working in partnership with SEI to help develop the most effective approaches to all of this." 

According to the independent software research firm Gartner, 50 percent of new mission-critical operational applications and business processes were designed in 2007 around SOA, and that percentage will grow to 80 percent by 2010. 

These are important statistics, said Dr. Rudolph. 

"Another important statistic is that, right now, nearly half of all SOA projects fail," he said. "In industry, multiple tens of millions of dollars have been spent on these failed efforts. That's why it's so important for us to do this in the most intelligent way possible." 

Paul Nielsen, CEO and director of the SEI, said his organization's intent is to help ESC and the Air Force do exactly that. 

"Our goal with ESC is to provide ongoing customer coordination and support to ensure that their future work on migrating legacy systems to SOA environments achieves the goals of cost efficiency, agility, adaptability, and the leveraging of legacy investments," he said.