Modular Open Systems Approach: An Effective Business Strategy for Building Affordable and Adaptable Architectures

A Modular Open Systems Approach (MOSA) is an integrated business and technical strategy for developing flexible and standards-based architectures to achieve affordable, interoperable, and sustainable systems. As a business strategy, it capitalizes on reducing the total system ownership costs via application of the latest products and state-of-the-art technologies from multiple sources. As a technical strategy, MOSA utilizes a modular design approach and widely supported industry standards for key system interfaces. The aim of this paper is to conduct an exploratory research to (1) to assess the degree of understanding of modular open systems approach in organizations; (2) identify the obstacles and barriers toward implementing MOSA as a business strategy; and (3) to identify the principle factors that determine the success or failure of MOSA. To this end, a survey of 170 organizations was conducted. The results indicate...... Introduction Architecture means different things to different people. Some definitions are complex, confusing, and depicted in very long paragraphs. For example those in Software Architecture for Product Families: Principles and Practice [1], or the one proposed in the UML Modeling Language User Guide [2]. Other definitions are simpler and more concise (e.g., see [3] and [4]). The most widely-used definition is perhaps the one provided by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) that defines architecture as the structure of components, their relationships, and the principles and guidelines governing their design and evolution over time (IEEE Standard 610). Generally speaking, there seems to be a consensus that the architecture is the structure not only of the system, but of its functions, the environment in which it will live, and the process by which it will be built and operated [4]. It is the highest-level conception of a system in its environment and includes the structure and behavior of the whole system in that environment, to show how the system will meet its requirements [5]. Additionally, an architecture is believed to be a base for reasoning about a system [6], emphasizing transformation rather than decomposition, applying series of representations that have different motivations, uses, views, and semantics, etc [3].