Conceptual Framework for Next-Generation Software Ecosystems

This paper proposes a conceptual framework for developing new technologies that will solve today’s technical issues in software development and operations (DevOps) and support the future software ecosystems. The proposed framework perceives resources essential for software DevOps from three perspectives: products, people, and technical information, and actively utilizes and link the latest digital technologies such as AI, natural language processing, microservices, and blockchain. The goal is not to aim fully automate software DevOps, but also to achieve high economic efficiency and sustainability by eliminating waste in software DevOps, assuming a human-centered society. The principal approaches of new technology development in the framework are "product up-cycling", "placement of the right people and AI in the right places", and "quality control linked to external technical information." New technologies to be developed with these approaches will expand conventional concepts in software DevOps with three dimensions of "reuse," "human resources," and "quality control."