NATO Network Enabled Capability (NNEC) challenges: Why NATO Air Command and Control System (ACCS) might be a good case

摘要

NATO is in the 2nd phase of its 'NET-CENTRIC' or 'Web enabled' transformation. NATO nations have ongoing C4ISR programmes and many of their legacy systems were industrialised or contracted before this Net-Centric transformation. The nations, like NATO, have the recurrent need to evolve their capabilities and converge to the NATO Network Enabled Capability (NNEC). Realizing the key NNEC goal of interoperability among 'unexpected' parties remains a daunting challenge. Reference documents intended to specify the principles of the NNEC and to guide its implementation have been developed. Nevertheless, a comprehensive technical approach that can be applied to a broad range of likely systems and stakeholders has not been defined. The concept of the NNEC is complex and constantly evolving. At this point it seems reasonable to expect NNEC to be implemented using a Services Oriented Architecture (SOA) based approach. The authors investigated the potential of employing an Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) federation strategy for converging to the NNEC. Using the NATO Air Command and Control System (ACCS) as a case study, they present an ESB federation strategy that can be adopted by the Nations and other NATO programs to address technical interoperability challenges for converging to the NNEC.