"If things continue to go the way they are going," said Thomasma, "we could end up with another situation like CORBA versus COM/DCOM where, ultimately, these dissimilar systems won't be able to interoperate and everything falls apart." (See the next page for a full text of Thomasma's letter.)
Thomasma knows something about integrating heterogeneous systems. For his day job, Thomasma is responsible for the architecture of Ford's plant floor systems, where data is collected from a variety of manufacturing devices and integrated into Ford's information systems. Thomasma also moonlights as Ford's representative and the co-chairperson in the XML/EDI Work Group of the Automotive Industry Action Group.
"The [AIAG] looks for opportunities to improve the overall state of the auto industry by implementing standards" says Thomasma. "For example, it will set standards for recyclable containers for automotive parts. The AIAG's EDI/XML Work Group looks for opportunities to set IT integration standards that benefit the industry as a whole."
The feuding to which Thomasma refers includes the ongoing contention between Sun, IBM, and Microsoft over the many standards and specifications that have either been developed, or are currently under development. Both Microsoft and IBM, for example, have pulled back dramatically on their support for ebXML while Sun continues to promote it. This worries Thomasma.
"If I decide to use Windows or some combination of Linux with open source stuff, I shouldn't have to pay extra for reliable XML and secure HTTP messaging, Thomasma said. "If I buy Great Plains ERP or CRM and it has the same XML language that a hundred other applications speak, then I'll be able to connect it and communicate with the world. You shouldn't have to pay extra for this. It's not much different than SQL. If I buy a software package, I expect it's going to talk SQL to a database like Oracle and I shouldn't have to pay extra for that functionality. The same goes for XML. I want the world to get to a point where I can buy a computer and it knows how to talk XML."
Thomasma strikes me as an extremely pragmatic IT architect. He knows that there's a lot of work being done in areas such as directories services and adapting business processes to Web services. But he's taking baby steps. "I'm not very charged up about that stuff right now" said Thomasma. "Most of it is immature and there are still competing specs such as UDDI vs. XML registries. My priority is just to get our applications talking to each other and to our partners like UPS over some standard infrastructure. The rest of that can come later. And when it does, I could care less if there are different specifications to solve the same problem on different platforms as long as the ability to talk to each other is built-in."
The bigger question is whether vendors are getting the message.
