Design Principles of a Federated Service-oriented Architecture Model for Net-centric Data Sharing

Abstract

One of the major challenges facing many Service-oriented Architecture (SOA)-based programs used in the Department of Defense (DoD) is how to define a SOA model that is robust and scalable enough to meet mission-specific needs, while satisfying the Net-centric requirements for data sharing across the multiple services and agencies. While there have been many SOA initiatives in the DoD with various successes, data and service interoperability across multiple organizations are still limited due to the lack of a coherent and overarching SOA model. Most SOA implementations in the DoD today still follow a complex centralized model that lacks the necessary flexibility, extensibility, and scalability for large enterprises. We believe that a federated SOA model, as proposed by the present author in a previous work, has the benefits and potential to solve both the scalability and complexity problems that have become prevalent in centralized SOAs. In this paper, several design principles are introduced for implementing such a federated SOA model in a Net-centric Environment. First, we provide a formal definition of interoperability and establish an enterprise model with the necessary model components and behaviors for achieving the desired federation. Secondly, the design principles are described in detail revolving around the use of core enterprise services (i.e., a registry service and a security policy service) and focused on the capability to support disconnected operations. The benefits of the model in representing a federated enterprise are demonstrated via a concrete study on an existing SOA implementation in the DoD. Finally, future research directions, including the establishment of a quantitative federation model and analyzing its behaviors via modeling and simulation techniques, are highlighted.