C.4. Information Systems Interoperability Reference Model (ISIOP-RM)
369. A successful case of interoperability is demonstrated in NATO’s efforts to standardize small arms. It was politically unattainable, for domestic industrial base reasons, to standardize on a common rifle and pistol for all NATO countries. But NATO did standardize on ammunition; the standard pistol round is 9mm. The interoperable ammunition solution gained interoperability -- the real need -- without imposing unpalatable commonality requirements. Such interoperability can also be achieved with information systems.
C.4.1. Interoperability Attributes
| Interoperability Attribute | Year 2 | Year 3 | Year 4 | Year 5 | Year 6 |
| Inter-Network | |||||
| Modularity | |||||
| Data | |||||
| Shared processes | |||||
| Interoperable procedures | |||||
| Cognitive interoperability | |||||
| Doctrinal interoperability |
Table C.4.
C.4.1.1. Inter-Network
370. Communications interoperability can be defined by the ability to inter-network. Because of the confederated nature of NATO, heterogeneous communications networks are necessary, and unavoidable; the key to interoperability is that they can be concatenated together using routers. Each discrete communications network is a routable network.
C.4.1.2. Modularity
371. Information systems are made up of sense, decide and act functions that rest upon the communications. This layer of the Model deals with the modularity of these functions and the complexity of information systems, which can be explained by nesting and chaining.
C.4.1.3. Data
372. Data element interoperability is a clear requisite to information system interoperability. This is the abstract layer where this discussion of data, meta-data and meta-meta-data belongs. A key issue is semantic equivalences.
C.4.1.4. Shared Processes
373. This is a software engineering concept. At its trivial level reusable code obviously enhances interoperability but that is a side effect of what is essentially an economy effort in code production. At a more mature level, mobile code and portable code are the pertinent issues.
C.4.1.5. Interoperable Procedures
374. Operating procedures is the level at which we tend to shift from systems engineering to human factors in the layered Model. This is the domain long inhabited by Standard Operating Procedures.
C.4.1.6. Cognitive Interoperability
375. Cognitive Interoperability has to do with shared situation awareness. Information systems are interoperable at this layer if decision makers in two different systems are seeing coherent pictures of the information presented.
C.4.1.7. Doctrinal Interoperability
376. This is a human factor that leads to coherency and uniformity of action. Different decision makers, when presented with the same information will be making similar decisions. The usual doctrinal tensions of uniformity versus creativity are still present and certainly not resolved by this Model. The Model only serves to illustrate the level of abstraction where such discussion belongs.
377. Where the reference models, described in the previous section, laid out the framework for a networked-enabled NATO, it is the technologies that are projected to be available during the mid-term period are going to enable the implementation of a network-enabled NATO, during this time frame.