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The EternalS Roadmap - Defining a Research
Agenda for Eternal Systems
Robert Mullins
Waterford Institute of Technology
Abstract.
Science, technology and business are increasingly dependent
on software. This trend is driven by increasing system size, complex-
ity, diversity and flexibility and the obligation for tailored integration of
end-users, processes and evolving technologies. The complexity scale of
current systems exceeds our current understanding of systems engineer-
ing and the number of system parameters to be controlled as part of the
overall design process exceeds the performance of the associated tools and
techniques we are using. This leads to excessive costs for software mainte-
nance and system degradation over its lifetime. The tools and techniques
must evolve to take into account this increasing systems, software and ar-
chitecture scale and complexity. Software intensive systems must be flex-
ible to accommodate a range of requirements and operating conditions,
and capable of evolving to allow these parameters to change over time.
Software Engineering approaches to reusability and maintenance must
cope with the dynamics and longevity of future software applications
and infrastructures, e.g., for the Future Internet, e-commerce, e-health,
and egovernment. The EternalS project is developing a roadmap for the
next two decades to inspire a research agenda for software and systems
engineering to help address these issues. This paper presents some of the
key issues outlined above, the roadmapping process and some of the key
findings to date.
Keywords:
Roadmap, Software Engineering, Eternal Systems.
1
Introduction
This paper presents the Eternal Systems research communitys analysis on the
key technologies, methodologies and processes supporting the development and
maintenance of large, complex, mission critical and long lived software systems,
and its perspective on the priorities for the future systems engineering research
under the European Commissions (ECs) Framework Program 8 (FP8). The scope
covers the vision, challenges and research needs for each of the eternal systems
areas as identified by the EternalS project, a Coordination Action supported by
the 7th Framework Programme of the EC within the FET (Future and Emerging
Technologies) scheme.
Changing user requirements, operating conditions and technologies continue
to be an issue for all stages of the systems development including its maintenance.
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