Interoperability

Definition

Interoperability is a term used to describe the ability of a device to interact with another device. An iPhone or rich sensor can be seen as a device with a high amount of interoperability, whereas an old fashioned refrigerator could be seen as only having the capability to interface with the wall in order to receive electricity. Unlike a phone, the amount of devices and protocols the fridge can interact with is very low.

Objects with greater levels of interoperability are key to ubiquitous computing. Over time, the web has emerged as an interface that smart sensors can hook into in order to connect with other sensors, data sources and users. Though many at research institutions such as PARC and SRI expected ubiquitous computing to appear much sooner, the emergence of the web as the largest technological interface for data pushed the emergence of ubiquitous computing further into the future. Ambient and pervasive ubiquitous computing cannot exist without a large network of data connectivity. Now that the web exists, the era of ubiquitous computing can finally begin.

Interoperation in Traditional vs. Ubiquitous Computing

In Ubiquitous Computing For Business, PARC researcher Bo Begole points out the traditional computing problem of Transfer, in which "separate computing components should be able to get information from each other without requiting manual transfer".

In traditional computing, this refers to computing components inside a computer. In ubiquitous computing, transfer refers to all components that exist anywhere in reality. In ubiquitous computing, transfer morphs into interoperability. If the three big problems of traditional computing are performance, storage and transfer, then the big problems of ubiquitous computing are control, overload and interoperation, which Bo Begole defines as "who ones the information and how the can control who can access it when, how to find pertinent information, and how data from one system can be used by a complementary device or service".