Pace 84 IBM Repository Will Be Critical to Development in the '90s This is the first 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 AHLIN | its long-awaited i commitment to a standard reposi- tory of design information for applica- lions development. The Repository is an integral component of IBM's applica- tions-development framework for the 19905, called Application Development (AD)/Cyele. 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- fortunately, the IBM Repository is far from complete. AD/Cyele supports a common set of user-interaction services, programming languages, database services and com: inunication services defined by SAA. Both the AD/Cyele tools and the appli- cations developed with the tools will conform to SAA. Within SAA, applica- lions development is supported through direct interaction with the services pro- vided by the Common Programming In- terface (CPI) or through the higher-level AD/Cyele development environment. As shown in the figure, the AD/Cycle environment consists of the following Components: $ A user interface that compljes with he standards defined by the Common User Access (CUA) component of SAA. AH 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. AD/Cyele provides an open framework that enables tools fro; aka ei oka m multiple vendors | other types of support PG WEEK NAPPLIGATION DEVELOPMENT H APPLIED INTELLIGENCE ME 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. š AD/Cyele is designed to support an The Structure of Application Development En Users ttuy take advantage IBM has acknowledged that there are many new, powerful tools for applica- tions development, and that the 19905 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-Ring, as well as future connections to 100M-bit : local area networks. IBM's AD/Cycle ironment.. | of conimon SAA services to | detelop applications -- using design information iti the Repositorj. SAA Cotrimon Prograniming Interface bi Odtammin Mantuages btesentation and Dialotiie Foraimunication ntertace Database ntertace IBM has designed -AD/Cycle to support an open softwa: development environment where the best ideas and products Jrom multiple vendors can be put into a common in which the best ideas and products " ' from multiple vendors can be incorpo- rated within a common framework. However, surveys of installations that " | are currently achieving very high speeds " of applications development indicate that the best results are obtained from . ! highly integrated families of products that include front-end CASE worksta- tlons, an integral code generator and a methodology optimized for high-speed development. A high degree of integra- tion among products may be more im- jese pen the peč! to Boleci multi- "integrated lucts within an 9Pen software Spo] it JA 1 | vala v. terprise, data models, process models, re- designs. "? s" II ITI — TV O—— Coinmon. | Repository | ot Design Data ti ZRA A ČaSttots Cade Oenetatit framework, vsi sj draioi repository of design information is piv- otally important. Such a repository is used to store information about. the en- hI | 8 | Usable code and reusable V) Tolea: ; The CASE repository is an integral . these a pe subject of ed to store design opal, a A oporo a ora u; srbi are then used o drive the code. | For inforrmarjem Vo 800) 242. 1240 eration process. U , pl Reuse of data models and process | — gda pote the United States nan Can. o a Ala ae nl maki 741 10th Sana Me itute, AE conforms to an, poma o poke (ars 9948305 pet Calif, standard, ni hi ič; on pan, 2 Ne Car tine (on A similar situation atises in communi.. , 9B. m- HO NE unit. (0529) 73) zoo United Kingdom, ITM kir io 1h "a | vij 1 1 JE m a a ravne the IBM Repository. entity-relationship diagrams and other diagram types that are incompatible. If this trend continues, it may cause major damage to the computer industry. the strategic importance of complying with a repository standard, even ifit means changing the way they represent information. repository, vendors will have better technology such as ol jalo ability to share design informati ; ibjak ; open software-development, environment; ,. Inthe push to develop applications, a products. mul pliance with the Reposito, defined by AD/Cyeleg o ans OCTOBER 2, 1989 cations networking, in which all commu- nicating devices must obey a commen 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: work Architecture and Digital Eguip- ment Corp.s DECnet. In the world of the repository, stan- dards committees have not yet created or seriously addressed the types of facil- ities that are implemented in the ency- clopedias of high-end CASE tools. The ANSI Information Resource Dictionary System standard covers only a fraction of the information that is specified by existing high-end CASE tools. The CASE repository is really the heart of CASE. It is IBM's view that if the AD/Cyele Repository can be created and made a de facto standard, then many different vendors can offer ingenious products that use the common repository. Agreeing on the Design ' An important problem arises, howev- er, because there are currently more than 200 CASE vendors, each with a different. way of representing the dia- grams used in the modeling and design of systems. Is it feasible for all vendors to agree on one meta-data model for de- sign information? m ' IBM is encouraging vendors to agree on a common meta-data model for the information stored in the Repository. ' A common model would allow design specifications to be shared among multi- Ple products. 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- 1 itories to use the definition embodied in | Currently, CASE vendors are Creating The burden is on vendors to recognize By conforming to a common design access to bject-oriented Next week, I will discuss vendor com- OPTNT rem urea.