The Dialectics of Technology Standardization

Aim: The aim of this study is to present the relationship between critical infrastructures and operational technology (OT) and to explore the cybersecurity challenges arising from the integration of IT and OT systems. The central research question is: What are the main vulnerabilities that emerge in critical infrastructures due to the interconnection of OT and IT systems, and what defense strategies can mitigate these risks? Methodology: The research adopts an interdisciplinary approach that combines theoretical-logical analysis, literature review, case study analysis, and the examination of practical examples. The following hypotheses were investigated: H1: The convergence of IT and OT systems results in an increased attack surface, as OT systems become vulnerable through IT networks. H2: The security mechanisms applied in critical infrastructures do not always meet the specific security requirements of OT, increasing system vulnerabilities. H3: Proper segmentation strategies and the establishment of controlled communication channels between IT and OT networks can reduce the risk of cyberattacks. The research also includes comparative analyses examining security measures applied in industrial and critical infrastructure settings. To gain a deeper understanding of the cybersecurity challenges of OT systems, industry reports and case studies were also analysed. Findings: The protection of operational technology systems in critical infrastructures is crucial for maintaining social and economic stability. The digitalization of OT systems and their increasing integration with IT systems create new cybersecurity challenges that require a complex and multi-layered approach to address. The study highlights that proper segmentation and secure interconnection of IT and OT systems are key to effectively managing cyber threats. Value: This research provides a comprehensive overview of the cybersecurity challenges associated with operational technology, with a particular focus on critical infrastructures. It offers valuable guidance for developing defense strategies from both scientific and practical perspectives, supporting the secure integration of IT and OT systems.

Aim: The aim of this study is to present the relationship between critical infrastructures and operational technology (OT) and to explore the cybersecurity challenges arising from the integration of IT and OT systems. The central research question is: What are the main vulnerabilities that emerge in critical infrastructures due to the interconnection of OT and IT systems, and what defense strategies can mitigate these risks? Methodology: The research adopts an interdisciplinary approach that combines theoretical-logical analysis, literature review, case study analysis, and the examination of practical examples. The following hypotheses were investigated: H1: The convergence of IT and OT systems results in an increased attack surface, as OT systems become vulnerable through IT networks. H2: The security mechanisms applied in critical infrastructures do not always meet the specific security requirements of OT, increasing system vulnerabilities. H3: Proper segmentation strategies and the establishment of controlled communication channels between IT and OT networks can reduce the risk of cyberattacks. The research also includes comparative analyses examining security measures applied in industrial and critical infrastructure settings. To gain a deeper understanding of the cybersecurity challenges of OT systems, industry reports and case studies were also analysed. Findings: The protection of operational technology systems in critical infrastructures is crucial for maintaining social and economic stability. The digitalization of OT systems and their increasing integration with IT systems create new cybersecurity challenges that require a complex and multi-layered approach to address. The study highlights that proper segmentation and secure interconnection of IT and OT systems are key to effectively managing cyber threats. Value: This research provides a comprehensive overview of the cybersecurity challenges associated with operational technology, with a particular focus on critical infrastructures. It offers valuable guidance for developing defense strategies from both scientific and practical perspectives, supporting the secure integration of IT and OT systems.

With rapid changes in the business environment, leading or utilizing technology standards may help firms gain better performance through competitive advantage. Such activities related to technology standards are likely to provide numerous opportunities or benefits to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the highly technological divide among firms. However, few studies have paid attention to drivers, obstacles, and results of technology standards activities in SMEs. Consequently, this study bridges this research gap by identifying the factors influencing technology standardizations, which in turn contribute to firm performance in SMEs. The analytic results of survey data collected from 250 SMEs in the Korean IT sector reveal that all technology standardizations have an effect firm performance. Benefits from standards, R&D capability, and insufficient resources are influential factors of all technology standardizations. However, support of related institutes only affects inbound standardization. This study discusses theoretical and practical implications on technology standardizations in SMEs based on these findings.

Transactional costs are one of the key group of costs in business operations related to the provided goods or services. Reduction of these costs, while maintaining the quality of the product at the level expected on the market is the goal of monitoring and managing expenses in companies. One of the methods for reduction the transactional costs is an integration of IT systems. The aim of this paper is to develop a conception of integration of IT systems used by Polish financial institutions. Taking advantage of this conception in business practice may lead to a reduction of transactional costs.

The aim of this study is to investigate firms’ strategies for developing and diffusing technology standards while maintaining a consensus with competitors in their industry. We conducted a case study of information technology (IT) standardization and analysed how Google drives the development and diffusion of HTML5 standards. Accordingly, this study sheds light on two strategic initiatives and two relational practices of standard development and diffusion. Adopting the technologies developed by other firms and forming alliances with other browser vendors are key to influencing the standardization process. Additionally, by building partnerships with developer communities, Google has accelerated the development and diffusion of the HTML5 standards. The mechanisms behind Google’s standardization strategies are also discussed.

Technology standard and technology innovation are the core factors affecting market competition. Technology standardization plays an important role in promoting competitive advantages and improving industrial innovation system. It is the key that helps to build standard systems and making industrial policy. Standards have played an important role in the evolution of information and communication technology. By analyzing the synergistic mechanism and exterior factors, this paper proposes a new conceptual model consisted of a relative motion model of technology standard and technology innovation, and a volatility model of technology standardization and industrial technology innovation. Based on the analysis, this paper argues that high quality technology innovation can promote technology standard and high-level technology standard that is widely implemented can boost technology innovation. The analysis also shows that there exist cooperative effects between technology standardization and industrial technology innovation.

Exclusively, this project report aims to describe research towards achieving seamless government financial operations through strategic IT system integration and to give descriptions of relevant work. Work described in this document has been accomplished in the Orion II contract of the State of New Jersey, which has highlighted the need for state-of-the-art methods. The execution of the contract is under the State Technical Support Program funded in part by the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Research & Innovative Technical Solutions Program of the New Jersey Department of Transportation.

The factors influencing the creation of e-business value are of major concern to researchers. The research in this paper, based on e-business process view and task technology fit, proposed a model from e-business capability requirement and IT system integration to process capability and then process performance. Through a survey of data from 175 manufacturing enterprises, we verified a series of hypothesis in the model by using partial least square (PLS), the results revealed that e-business capability requirement and system integration positively affect process capability which then transforms to process performance, and we also investigated the mediating effect of IT system integration and process capability, thus, exploring the creation process of e-business.

A smart city is one that has some of the most advanced and useful IoT programmes in use. In the last several years, the concept of smart city integration has been more important in academic, healthcare, and industrially focused areas. Cloud computing and the Internet of Things (IoT) are two well-known information and communication technology (ICT) standards that are likely to shape the next era of processing. The proposal depicts an appealing platform for various forms of technology-enabled government discontent. It provides a vision of the city in which specialised organisations use specialised data to collaborate with residents and shape a thriving urban culture by designing infrastructure that may boost individual happiness. Because of its flexibility to adapt to new environments, the Internet of Things (IoT) will be able to seamlessly combine a vast number of programmes at varying levels of development. This will initiate the release of a small, authorised data collection that may be used to effect change across a variety of modernised institutions. IoT frameworks in urban areas are suggested to make smart cities a reality. The topic at hand is the evolving systems of reciprocal assistance that the city's many institutions and families rely on. This article presents and discusses the fundamental configurations and technological standards that must be embraced in a city in order to make it smarter. As a result, the standard of living and general welfare of the populace will improve thanks to this strategy.

This paper presents main concepts regarding the design of a knowledge base in order to support IT systems integration. The main goal of the research is to develop a universal method of integration of various systems concerning any possible area of interest. The concept is based on creating a generic mechanism which would support the decision regarding the choice of the integration model. The most important tasks include: key factors analysis, building the integration process knowledge base and designing artificial intelligencebased decision support mechanism. The proposed solution is in an early stage of development therefore this paper is just the beginning of a series of articles. After implementation it is planned to verify the solution during the project which will be responsible for integration of various environment monitoring systems.

Purpose - This study aimed to examine how the integration of IT systems is applied in the M&A process in Korean retail industry based on the...

Consistent data across applications is the centerpiece for a successful integration of IT systems. Heterogeneous IT environments, as found in most mature industries, pose a challenge not only in integrating applications, but also in ensuring a consistent set of data being used. Based on an industry example we describe how data consistency is realized through data modeling concepts and a service-oriented architecture. A directory service and adapters handle the information transfer between applications using a global information model derived from an industry standard. Two use cases show how a synchronization service reacts and resolves data inconsistencies.

About Our Authors

[Context and motivation] The increasingly complex business and development environment brings challenges to IT system development and requirements engineering (RE) activities. [Question/problem] The goal of the case study was to investigate what the challenges of a customer organization’s RE process are in the outsourced development environment and what demands these challenges bring to RE process development. The case study was conducted in a Finnish insurance company. [Principal ideas/results] The results are based on 17 interviews and the analysis of 15 large projects. The case study indicates that one of the biggest challenges is to develop business and IT as a whole. When combining business process and IT system development, requirements are an important tool. Another critical challenge in the outsourced environment is that the RE process is distributed between the customer organization and the supplier. Furthermore, highly integrated IT systems and enterprise architecture bring demands to RE process. [Contribution] The paper describes a complex environment in which the customer organization develops IT systems, and systematically defines challenges related to the RE process.

At the beginning of the XXI century society, knowledge based society, the management of economic organizations can only be achieved through optimal IT systems. They can be seen as an extension of increasingly complex information systems and provide effective leadership only if they are integrated in the economic system of the organization. We have previously shown some of the features that recommend integrated IT systems to be controlled and used, as well as main principles for building the integrated computer systems, strategies that can be applied in the designing of this type of IT system. Advantages of management integrated IT systems can be best supported by examples, and therefore we intend to present a special category, but increasingly used, of integrated IT systems: Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP). They are “distributed IT systems based on client / server and developed for the processing of transactions and facilitating the integration of business processes with suppliers, customers and other business partners.”