Jirst of a series of articles on the recently an- nounced IBM Repository, a pivotal compo- nent of IBM s applications-de- velopment strat- egy for the '90s. Last. week, IBM announced its long-awaited commitment to a standard reposi- tory of design information for applica- tions development. The Repository is an integral component of IBM applica- Lons-development framework for the 1990s, called Application Development (AD)/Cycle. This framework will provide a stan- dard applications-development, environ- ment that complies with IBM's Systems Application Architecture (SAA). The Re- pository incorporated within AD/Cycle will eventually have a major effect on. computer-aided software engineering (CASE) vendors, software vendors and information-systems organizations. It will also have a critical impact on appli- cations development in the 1990s. Un- lortunately, the IBM Repository is far from complete. AD/Cyele supports a common set of user-interaction services, programming languages, database services and com- munication services defined by SAA. Both the AD/Cycle tools and the appli- catlons developed with the tools will conform to SAA. Within SAA, applica- Uons development is supported through direct interaction with the services pro- vided by the Common Programming, In- lerface (CPI) or through the higher-level AD/Cycle development environment. As shown in the figure, the AD/Cycle environment consists of the following components: ? A user interface that complies with the standards defined by the Common User Access (CUA) component of SAA. Al software products that conform to CUA standards will have a common "look and feel," " Applications-development. tools, such as CASE products, that are typically supplied by third-party vendors. Cyele provides an open framework - hat enables tools from multiple vendors to be used within a comm on appli common čni ze ŠE ei a ski 5 || deden specificatjons a s o Store ooo iii ve APPLIED INTELLIGENCE. IBM kepository Will Be Critical to Development: in the '90s Users are demanding products that support an open software environment. : Corporations want the ability to mix and match compatible software prod- ucts from different, vendors. For exam- ple, some users might want to select a variety of front-end CASE tools, code generators, documentation generators and project-management facilities; all of ' which are fully integrated with a com- mon repository of design information. The user might want to operate within a software environment in which com- patible tools from different vendors can be plugged into a standard applications- development environment. AD/Cycle is designed to support an PO WEEKNAPPLICATION DEVELOPMENT IBM has acknowledged that there are | many new, powerful tools for applica- tions development, and that the 1990s is going to be a decade of great creativity. Some of these tools will be CASE prod- ucts, some will relate to artificial intelli- gence, and some will represent an evolu- tion of fourth-generation language tools. IBM is encouraging independent ven- dors to develop tools that can help drive < the rest of IBM's hardware and software environment. It is making a strong push to encourage those vendors to build tools according to IBM s standards— standards such as SAA, Token-Riny:, as well as future connections to 100M-bit local area networks. The Structure of IBM's AD/Cycle | Application Development Environment . Users in ty take ad vantage of common SAA services to il develop applications -- SNE desisn information iii the Repository, SAA Cotnmon Programming interface Marn " Ne k H, ; - Ptogramming 5 Vantjuages. ( $tesentation. | Dialogie. A [V Communication. > V Intetiace |. Database ntertace cations networking, in which all commu- nicating devices must obey a common set of connection standards. In the world of networking, there are formal standards set by organizations such as the International Standards Organiza- tion, as well as de facto proprietary standards such as IBM's Systems Net: dei work Architecture and Digital Eguip- | ment Corp.s DECnet. iz In the world of the repository, stan- Ki dards committees have not yet created pie or seriously addressed the types of facil- | | ities that are implemented in the ency- | clopedias of high-end CASE tools. The li] ANSI Information Resource Dictionary NB System standard covers only a fraction li of the information that is specified by existing high-end CASE tools. The CASE repository is really the io heart of CASE. HA It is IBMs view that if the AD/Cycle He Repository can be created and made a Mike de facto standard, then many different vendors can offer ingenious products that use the common repository. KI š An important problem arises, howev- | | k C« er, because there are currently more f[:..-— PI ana than 200 CASE vendors, each with a | ant hi siegal M different way of representing the dia- be Po Common < grams used in the modeling and design w: bie nani of systems. Is it feasible for all vendors tir | balade Mk to agree on one meta-data model for de- sign information? to v m | IBM is encouraging vendors to agree cl: REM . on a common meta-data model for the | le: AN vdani information stored in the Repository. Or NE Ne A common model would allow design la: specifications to be shared among multi: ai ple products. Ob nati EAHA | HEZA M » MNE | CE: MI He IBM has designed--AD/Cycle to support an open software- development environment where the best ideas and products Jrom multiple vendors can be put into a common framework. Ni. he«4 Pe EM k: i 4 fi žeti VEM Ma SI, a li ; k j č open software-development, environment bi In the push to develop applications, a in which the best ideas and products from multiple vendors can be incorpo- rated within a common framework. o sppllcationo development; indicate the best results are obtained from . highly integrated families of products ; that include front-end CASE worksta- 9ns, an integral code generator and a methodology optimized for high-speed. ža pment. A high degree of integra- 9A among products may be more im- Portant than the ability to select multi- | ed products within an Open software environment. ''! | IRENI ' part of the CASE environment. It is ... repository of design information is piv- otally important. Such a repository is , ; - used to store information about the en- However, surveys of installations that ' ' | are currently achieving very high speeds " terprise, data models, process models, re-/ | usable code and reusable designs. " " ' The CASE repository is an integral . used to store design specifications, - which are then used to drive the code- ; eu generation process, |: Reuse of data models and process. | ' models from different tools will work | only if the design information in the re- ository conforms to an industry: .. sta viard TEJ b r Ji j | A similar situation atises in communji.. | PE AJAEG) iu , delo ge ni ši kit M Mir | — Martin Report, an i ' IBM has announced its version of the ! meta-data model in the form of the com-.' mon repository. To comply with this model, vendors must, modify their repos- itories to use the definitions embodied in the IBM Repository. Currently, CASE vendors are creating entity-relationship diagrams and other diagram types that are incompatible. If this trend continues, it may cause major damage to the computer industry. The burden is on vendors to recognize the strategic importance of complying with a repository standard, even if it means changing the way they represent information. By conforming to a common design repository, vendors will have access to better technology such as object-oriented and relational technigues, as wel] as the asa to shar KSoavah information with wing number of comnli | To NE poenollani —M bandi pse eli discuss Cuss vendor com. the Repository standard defined by AD/Cycle.g " . To learn More about | ae | 1 these articles, please call T) o fi For inf ormation V O400) 242.1240 | Contact (in the Ta se MiNArs, pleas SI ada) Ne ihe United States udi Can | Hi: 741 10th Se. als Institute HI ci Sanela 3948305. rni Ho | hi, Z Pe, Con. ' il .: LAB Gane Še, Garni ton