Improving the Deployment of Open System Technology: Jonathan A. Morell
Introduction What fate awaits the Manufacturing Automation Protocol (MAP) in Europe? Two extreme views, and many in-between, can be supported by the evidence. The most pessimistic view is that a critical mass has not been reached, that it will never be reached, and that except in isolated cases, MAP will whither as a desirable technical solution. The optimistic view is that MAP's inherent advantages of flexibility, insurance against technological obsolescence, and functionality, will win the day. Which future for MAP is most likely, and what might be done to insure a desirable outcome? The answer to this question is important not only for MAP, but for any promising open system technology that may be developed in the future. As we shall presently see, there is a tension between good technical and business reasons to adopt open systems, and equally serious barriers to such implementation. This report will present a case study of how that tension plays out in the case of MAP, and then extrapolate to the general case of open systems. To accomplish this task we will summarize findings from a variety of interviews with people close to the European MAP scene, overlay the findings with a conceptual model of open systems deployment, and attempt to show how a desirable future for MAP might be achieved. full report.pdf (1.7 meg) |