Open Systems Software Standards in Concurrent Engineering

Abstract

This chapter presents an introduction to open systems, explains important open system standards, and discusses how to use open system products effectively in concurrent engineering. Products based on open systems standards—particularly, the ISO Open System Interconnection (OSI), and IEEE POSIX—are beginning to replace reliance on proprietary computing platforms. Engineers who develop products that incorporate embedded computers and software are thus faced with the challenge of understanding two technological developments that will change the way they do their jobs: concurrent engineering and open systems. Software development and integration are often the weak links in product development because of incompatibilities among embedded software components. A principal objective of open systems standards is to make systems integration easier. Open system standards will make it possible to develop standard software components that can be implemented on a wide variety of hardware, making a software components industry economically practical. However, open system standards do not solve all problems associated with building interchangeable software components. Software designers need to understand the capabilities and limitations of software standards, and how to deal with these limitations.