Integrated Data Environment: A New Tool for Interoperability and Effective Data Integration for Command and Control

摘要

NATO nations still have a plethora of incompatible data systems that are likely to remain in service for many years. A fusion approach is not appropriate, and is likely to prove unmanageable and unaffordable. The Integrated Data Environment provides a response to this information management challenge that is both manageable and affordable, and is eminently suitable for an incremental growth approach. The NATO C3 Agency has responded to customer requirements with the Integrated Data Environment (IDE) project, which has evolved over the past 3 years. The intention is to provide one integrated database that contains global data from a number of different sources. In the beginning, these sources will be legacy internal NATO systems. Later, other systems will be added as requirements and political concurrence allow. The IDE can be established for new purposes, and the existing systems can be left with their current databases and database management systems, be they rudimentary or advanced, with the immediate benefit that no changes to those systems are required. It became one of the design objectives of the IDE work that the IDE concept should be seen to be unintrusive from the perspective of any legacy system. In the integration approach, global data are translated from the native (legacy) environment to the common data model of the IDE, so that the translated data subsets reside in a single database or transmission mechanism with one common data model describing all data. One may think of this common data model as a 'lingua franca.' A COTS product has been identified that creates the translator boxes to provide interfaces to and from the legacy systems. There are two techniques available to implement the IDE function, Data Mediation and Data Translation. These advantages and disadvantages of these two alternative techniques are further discussed. Fifteen briefing charts summarize the presentation. (2 figures).