A large software vendor's view on Cyber Physical Systems

Abstract

The rise of Cyber Physical Systems (CPS) brings a new level of complexity into the world of software and systems development and operations. Dynamic dependencies and changes throughout the product lifecycle necessarily impact system performance. At the same time, these new, highly automated systems require exceptional reliability and usability. From a software vendor's view, experiences with enterprise systems can be extrapolated and transformed into a new model of system operations, where product and service merge to form one common business model. A software vendor must overcome the challenge of ensuring sustainability in a rapidly changing technical environment. The paper shows how this and other challenges can be addressed from a vendor's view. It explores how a product portfolio for connected systems can be designed, which capabilities need to be covered, and how systems should be delimited to guarantee robustness and flexibility. Finally it describes the demand for new public architecture concepts that should be covered by academic research.