Assessment of Service Protocols Adaptability

Protocol adaptation between services is a key functionality for ensuring successful interactions. Previous work has mainly interested in either compatibility analysis which targets at the direct service interaction, or constructing adapters for service protocols. In this paper, we are rather interested in characterizing whether two service protocols are adaptable without constructing an adapter, quantifying their adaptability degree, and identifying conditions providing which they can be properly adapted. We believe such an assessment is a key criteria for selecting the appropriate service among functionally-equivalent candidates. We firstly introduce a generic method that adapts service protocols without requiring to construct an adapter at design-time. Then we present a technique that enables to explore our interests mentioned above. Digital Enterprise Research Institute (DERI), National University of Ireland, Galway, IDA Business Park, Lower Dangan, Galway, Ireland. E-mail: {zhangbing.zhou, sami.bhiri}@deri.org. Acknowledgements: The work presented in this paper was supported (in part) by the EU funded TripCom Specific Targeted Research Project under Grant No. FP6-027324, (in part) by the EU funded SUPER Specific Targeted Research Project under Grant No. FP6026850, (in part) by the Lion project supported by Science Foundation Ireland under Grant No. SFI/02/CE1/I131, and (in part) by the Lion-2 project supported by Science Foundation Ireland under Grant No. SFI/08/CE/I1380. Copyright © 2009 by the authors DERI TR 2009-03-15 I