3. To paraphrase William Shakespeare ^[1] "What's in a name? That which we call a service by any other name would mean the same". The problem is that the meaning of service does not always mean the same thing; it is dependent upon the context in which it is used. A messaging service in a client/server or platform oriented environment is not the same as a messaging service in a SOA environment. Many use this confusion to indicate that they are providing a service in a SOA environment, when in fact the service is actually provided in a platform oriented environment.

4. The NNEC FS introduced the terms Service Interoperability Point (SIOP) and Service Interface Point (SIP).

5. TACOMS Post 2000 describes an Interoperability Point (IOP) which is the point where nations agree to use STANAGs to interconnect their national systems to achieve interoperability of services. Similarly, The Information Exchange Gateway (IEG) concept describes an Interoperability Point where NATO and Nations interconnect their respective systems.

6. The NISP contains Profiles which contain a set of standards to be used to exchange services and may imply profiles for platform centric or SOA environments.

7. All these efforts describe service interoperability without going into the detail of the services being platform centric or SOA. This annex to the NISP Volume 1 will clarify the meaning of services in platform oriented an SOA environments, and their respective interoperability points.

8. The following diagram (Figure A.1) depicts generic interface points and service interoperability that is applicable for both platform centric and SOA environments. Details of platform centric and SOA services are described in the following sections.