Heterogeneous System Environment Research Articles

BIDPREP-towards simultaneous bid preparation

Successful tendering for capital goods such as machine tools or industrial plants, which are designed and produced to customer demands, requires interdisciplinary co-operation. Moreover, it requires the support of a software tool capable of supporting distributed processes in a heterogeneous system environment. Within the ESPRIT project No. 7131 'BIDPREP-An Integrated System for Simultaneous Bid Preparation', enterprises, research institutes and a software house have developed a generally applicable solution. This paper presents reorganization measures as well as a software system designed to enhance the pre-sales phase for companies producing one-of-a-kind products.

A programmable interface language for heterogeneous distributed systems

The 1980s have witnessed the emergence of a new architecture for computing based on networks of personal computer workstations. The performance requirements of such systems of workstations places a strain on traditional approaches to network architecture. The integration of diverse systems into this environment introduces functional compatibility issues that are not present in homogeneous networks. Effective prescriptions for functional compatibility, therefore, must go beyond the communication paradigms used in present distributed systems, such as remote procedure calls. This paper proposes a distributed system architecture in which communication follows a programming paradigm. In this architecture a programming language provides remote service interfaces for the heterogeneous distributed system environment. This language is a flexible and efficient medium for implementing service function protocols. In essence, clients and servers communicate by programming one another.