Dear all, One of the Action Points on me from the confcall last week was that I would write down an email explaining the difference between concepts such as FI-WARE GE Open Specifications, FI-WARE OIL, etc through an analogy that may be simple enough and easy to understand. Here it goes. Hope I can make it :-) Let's suppose that FI-WARE partners are in the business of building "vehicles" (cars, motorcycles, vans, etc). The term "vehicle" would be used the same way we use the term "FI-WARE Generic Enablers (GEs)". There are different categories of "vehicles": "Berlina", "Minivan", "SUV (Sport Utility Vehicle)", "motorcycle", "van", etc the same way there are different FIWARE GEs. The "Context Broker GE" or the "BigData GE" are examples of "FI-WARE GEs" the same way "Berlina" or "Minivan" are examples of "vehicles". "Berlina", "Minivan" or "SUV" are abstract concepts, the same way "Context Broker GE" or "BigData GE" are abstract concepts. However, there are a number of well-known characteristics that makes "Minivan" different from "Berlina" or "SUV". Similarly, there are characteristics that make a "Context Broker GE" different than a "BigData GE". Those characteristics are what we refer as the "FI-WARE Open Specifications". Each FI-WARE GE has a FI-WARE Open Specification. Therefore, you may refer to the FI-WARE Open Specifications of the "Context Broker GE" the same way you may refer to the specifications of the "Berlina" category of vehicle. The specifications linked to "Berlina", "Minivan", "SUV", etc (note that there is a different one for each) are relevant mostly for the vehicle manufacturers because they have to comply with those specifications in order to document that a given model of a vehicle they are selling is actually a "Berlina", "Minivan", etc. Unfortunately, there are no public specifications of vehicles in the vehicles manufacturing sector but you may assume they exist for the sake of this analogy. Indeed it would be useful for users because it would allow them to compare vehicles of the same category, for example, and know better what they are buying (there might be a certification authority that could provide a "stamp" that certifies that a given model X, manufactured by company Y, is actually a "Minivan" and can be sold as such). Complying with the "Open Specifications" of a "Minivan", Ford can claim that the "Ford Focus" is a product they own that is an "implementation" of the concept of "Minivan". VW can also claim that the "Touran" is an "implementation" of "Minivan". Similarly, complying with the "Open Specifications" of the "Context Broker GE", Telefonica can claim that its "Orion Context Broker" product is a "Context Broker GE implementation" or Telecom Italia can claim that its "Context Awareness Platform" product is a "Context Broker GE implementation" (these are indeed two real examples). We use the term "FI-WARE GEi" to refer to "FI-WARE GE implementation". Please note that the 'i' in GEi, despite it sometimes gets unadvertized, its quite relevant :-) Note that the same way concrete vehicle models have a manufacturer, each FI-WARE GEi has an owner. Thus, the same way "Ford" is the manufacturer of any "Ford Focus", the "Orion Context Broker" has an owner: Telefonica. Following with the definitions, we have the concept of "implementation instance". A concrete "Ford Focus" vehicle with license plate "7342 CVN" is an instance of the "Ford Focus" "Minivan" sold by Ford. Similarly, there is the notion of "FI-WARE GEi instance". FI-WARE GEi instances are the result of deploying the software linked to a given FI-WARE GEi in a given environment. A FI-WARE GEi instance also has something similar to a "license plate" which makes it universally unique. That "license plate" use to be referred as "Service End Point" which is the unique point at the Internet where that FI-WARE GEi instance is accessible. Now, just imagine that vehicle manufacturers (Ford, VW, Fiat, ...) may decide to create a big "experimentation park". Users would be invited to enter that park to experiment with vehicles from different manufacturers. The manufacturers may provide some concrete vehicles that users entering the park can test (e.g., Ford may provide vehicles "1234 CVN", "2534 ABB" and "8744 ZPP" which are concrete instances of a "Ford Focus", another "Ford Focus" and a "Ford Fiesta", respectively, while VW may provide vehicles "7777 ZXH", "8994 JKL" which are instances of a "Tuoran" and a "Tiguan", respectively). Besides, users can "order" new dedicated "instances" of vehicles for their testing which manufacturers will provide at the moment (this may sound a little bit unrealistic but who knows in the future with 3D printers :-) Therefore, a given user can go and ask for a new "Ford Focus" and ask it to be assigned license plate "3299 BBA" for its testing. Furthermore, users will be able to setup relatively complex environments with the vehicles they are offered for testing. A given user who owns a company that deals with packet delivery may go to the park and setup a circuit which simulates how they can deliver packets using a "van" to different customers. (S)he may even setup a simulation of its own office where orders can be received and dispatched from. That way, (s)he may test how convenient using a given van could be to run his business. He indeed may come with a number of customers who may stay at different locations in the park to make the testing more real. (S)he will be offered the ability to book resources (e.g. spaces and furniture for the simulated office or the locations where customers will be placed) that can be used temporarily for setting up this kind of experiments. Well, given said this, the FI-WARE Open Innovation Lab (OIL) is analogous to this big "experimentation park" for vehicles. FI-WARE GEi owners will offer instances of their FI-WARE GEis that are available on the FI-WARE OIL for experimental purposes. Besides, they will provide tools so that users can build dedicated instances of FI-WARE GEis for usage in their experiments. The kind of experiments they run have to do with applications/solutions they build relying on functionality provided by FI-WARE GEi instances they have selected and those experiments may involve End Users who will allow them to carry out more close-to-reality experiments. What we are intending to develop with the FI-WARE OIL Terms and Conditions is very simple (but relevant): the terms and conditions that accompany the ticket (or invitation) that a user has to obtain to enter the park and use the services that are offered to them there. Those terms and conditions will establish that we are not liable for any damage, wrong usage, etc or responsible for content that users may bring to the FI-WARE OIL or responsible about the relationships between users and their End Users. Again, think about the analogy. Ford, VW, etc welcome that people go to the park and experiment with their products, but they don't want to be liable for anything that happens as a result. They may also provide the best support they can afford and maybe reasonable, but wouldn't commit to any support service level, for example. Some of you have asked what is the relationship between the Legal Notice attached to FI-WARE Open Specifications and the FI-WARE OIL Terms and Conditions. There is none (other than, of course, both are related to FI-WARE :-) Users of FI-WARE GEis care about the FI-WARE GE Open Specifications a given GEi implements just because they want to understand what they can expect when using products compliant with the spec, but the Legal Notice is mostly relevant for potential implementors of the Open Specifications. What is rather relevant for the Users are the FI-WARE OIL Terms and Conditions. I hope this analogy helps to explain the different concepts used and the intended goal of the FI-WARE OIL Terms and Conditions and can help us to come up with a solid document that keep us safe while, at the same time and being rather important, users (and not attorneys :-) can understand :-) and do not become a barrier for usage. Because, bear this always in mind, we want that users feel attracted to go to the park and experiment with our technology :-) I'll happy to answer any question you may have. Best regards, -- Juanjo -- ------------- Product Development and Innovation (PDI) - Telefonica Digital website:www.tid.es email:jhierro at tid.es twitter: twitter.com/JuanjoHierro FI-WARE (European Future Internet Core Platform) Coordinator and Chief Architect You can follow FI-WARE at: website:http://www.fi-ware.eu facebook:http://www.facebook.com/pages/FI-WARE/251366491587242 twitter:http://twitter.com/FIware linkedIn:http://www.linkedin.com/groups/FIWARE-4239932 ________________________________ Este mensaje se dirige exclusivamente a su destinatario. Puede consultar nuestra política de envío y recepción de correo electrónico en el enlace situado más abajo. This message is intended exclusively for its addressee. We only send and receive email on the basis of the terms set out at: http://www.tid.es/ES/PAGINAS/disclaimer.aspx
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