Background. The OMG’s Meta Object Facility (MOF™) defines the metadata architecture for Model Driven Architecture (MDA®) and provides a basis for automating metadata management. Metadata, in this context, includes database schema, UML™ (Unified Modeling Language) models, workflow models, business process models, business rules, API definitions, and so on. MOF defines standards for automating the physical management and integration of different kinds of metadata through metamodels and mappings among them. (2U47)
The Semantic Web is a logical extension of existing World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) standards, such as XML, XML Schema, and SOAP that enables explicit representation of business semantics. The goal is to make domain-specific context, nomenclature, and the language used to describe content and services on the web unambiguous from a computing perspective. Its underlying formalisms and technologies have evolved from more than two decades of research in knowledge representation, computational linguistics, and automated reasoning. (2U48)
MDA and the Semantic Web were conceived independently and evolved with little cross-pollination over the course of several years. However, recently, participants from both communities recognized business benefits to bridging the two technologies to form a coherent, enterprise information interoperability architecture. The main realization of this to date is the Ontology Definition Metamodel (ODM) standard, which is nearing completion in OMG with the participation of key members of the Semantic Web community. (2U49)
Company. Sandpiper Software develops software and solutions to support business semantics interoperability, machine interpretable policy representation and policy-based applications. Our Visual Ontology Modeler product and forthcoming policy-based application framework are representative of our efforts to bring MDA and semantic technologies together to solve problems in business and systems interoperability. We are currently working with customers to develop applications that range from self-service call center support, to terminology resolution for industrial chemical engineering and insurance, to policy-based software and network asset management. Sandpiper is actively involved in both the OMG’s Ontology PSIG and W3C’s Semantic Best Practices and Deployment working group. We are leading the development of standards for ontology and knowledge base development and management that leverage the UML stack of industry standards with the help of IBM, HP, and other partners, and are working with US federal representatives to integrate these standards with ISO metadata and registry efforts through SC32 WG2. (2U4A)
Contact Information: Elisa F. Kendall, CEO and Founder, Sandpiper Software, Inc. 2053 Grant Road #162, Los Altos, CA 94024 voice: (650) 960-2456, fax: (650) 969-6991, email: ekendall@sandsoft.com (2U4C)
For more information, see http://www.sandsoft.com/. (2U4B)