Enterprise Architecture, Integration, and Interoperability and the Networked enterprise have become the theme of many conferences in the past few years. These conferences were organised by IFIP TC5 with the support of its two working groups: WG 5. 12 (Architectures for Enterprise Integration) and WG 5. 8 (Enterprise Interoperability), both concerned with aspects of the topic: how is it possible to architect and implement businesses that are flexible and able to change, to interact, and use one another's s- vices in a dynamic manner for the purpose of (joint) value creation. The original qu- tion of enterprise integration in the 1980s was: how can we achieve and integrate - formation and material flow in the enterprise? Various methods and reference models were developed or proposed - ranging from tightly integrated monolithic system - chitectures, through cell-based manufacturing to on-demand interconnection of bu- nesses to form virtual enterprises in response to market opportunities. Two camps have emerged in the endeavour to achieve the same goal, namely, to achieve interoperability between businesses (whereupon interoperability is the ability to exchange information in order to use one another's services or to jointly implement a service). One school of researchers addresses the technical aspects of creating dynamic (and static) interconnections between disparate businesses (or parts thereof).

Within a scenario of globalised markets, where the capacity to efficiently cooperate with other firms starts to become essential in order to remain in the market in an economically, socially and environmentally cost-effective manner, it can be seen how the most innovative enterprises are beginning to redesign their business model to become interoperable. This goal of interoperability is essential, not only from the perspective of the individual enterprise but also in the new business structures that are now emerging, such as supply chains, virtual enterprises, interconnected organisations or extended enterprises, as well as in mergers and acquisitions. Composed of over 40 papers, Enterprise Interoperability V ranges from academic research through case studies to industrial and administrative experience of interoperability. The international nature of the authorship contnues to broaden. Many of the papers have examples and illustrations calculated to deepen understanding and generate new ideas. The I-ESA'12 Conference from which this book is drawn was organized by Polytechnic University of Valencia, on behalf INTERVAL, and the European Virtual Laboratory for Enterprise Interoperability (INTEROP-VLab) and sponsored by the International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP) and the International Federation of Automatic Control (IFAC). A concise reference to the state of the art in systems interoperability, Enterprise Interoperability V will be of great value to engineers and computer scientists working in manufacturing and other process industries and to software engineers and electronic and manufacturing engineers working in the academic environment.

Within a scenario of globalised markets, where the capacity to efficiently cooperate with other firms starts to become essential in order to remain in the market in an economically, socially and environmentally cost-effective manner, it can be seen how the most innovative enterprises are beginning to redesign their business model to become interoperable. This goal of interoperability is essential, not only from the perspective of the individual enterprise but also in the new business structures that are now emerging, such as supply chains, virtual enterprises, interconnected organisations or extended enterprises, as well as in mergers and acquisitions. Composed of over 40 papers, Enterprise Interoperability V ranges from academic research through case studies to industrial and administrative experience of interoperability. The international nature of the authorship contnues to broaden. Many of the papers have examples and illustrations calculated to deepen understanding and generate new ideas. The I-ESA'12 Conference from which this book is drawn was organized by Polytechnic University of Valencia, on behalf INTERVAL, and the European Virtual Laboratory for Enterprise Interoperability (INTEROP-VLab) and sponsored by the International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP) and the International Federation of Automatic Control (IFAC). A concise reference to the state of the art in systems interoperability, Enterprise Interoperability V will be of great value to engineers and computer scientists working in manufacturing and other process industries and to software engineers and electronic and manufacturing engineers working in the academic environment.

Composed of over 50 papers, "Enterprise Interoperability" ranges from academic research through case studies to industrial and administrative experience of interoperability. The international nature of the authorship continues to broaden. Many of the papers have examples and illustrations calculated to deepen understanding and generate new ideas. This is a concise reference to the state-of-the-art in software interoperability.

Enterprise Architecture, Integration, and Interoperability and the Networked enterprise have become the theme of many conferences in the past few years. These conferences were organised by IFIP TC5 with the support of its two working groups: WG 5. 12 (Architectures for Enterprise Integration) and WG 5. 8 (Enterprise Interoperability), both concerned with aspects of the topic: how is it possible to architect and implement businesses that are flexible and able to change, to interact, and use one another's s- vices in a dynamic manner for the purpose of (joint) value creation. The original qu- tion of enterprise integration in the 1980s was: how can we achieve and integrate - formation and material flow in the enterprise? Various methods and reference models were developed or proposed - ranging from tightly integrated monolithic system - chitectures, through cell-based manufacturing to on-demand interconnection of bu- nesses to form virtual enterprises in response to market opportunities. Two camps have emerged in the endeavour to achieve the same goal, namely, to achieve interoperability between businesses (whereupon interoperability is the ability to exchange information in order to use one another's services or to jointly implement a service). One school of researchers addresses the technical aspects of creating dynamic (and static) interconnections between disparate businesses (or parts thereof).

Today enterprises must strive to improve their competitiveness in a changing environment. To reach this objective it is necessary for companies to evaluate their performances and to combine modelling, business process re-engineering and benchmarking techniques. This book demonstrates the successful combination and implementation of these various techniques.

This book constitutes the proceedings of the Fourth International IFIP Working Conference on Enterprise Interoperability (IWEI 2012), held in Harbin, China, September 6-7, 2012. The theme for IWEI 2012 was "Collaboration, Interoperability and Services for Networked Enterprises," so submissions and discussions focused on these three areas critical for enterprise interoperability.

The 10 full papers, 3 short papers, and 4 invited papers presented in this volume were carefully selected from 21 submissions, following a thorough reviewing process, during which each paper was scrutinized by at least three experts in the field. The papers cover a wide spectrum of enterprise interoperability issues, ranging from foundational theories, frameworks, architectures, methods and guidelines to applications, and case studies. In addition, this volume also includes the two invited keynotes.

The 10 full papers, 3 short papers, and 4 invited papers presented in this volume were carefully selected from 21 submissions, following a thorough reviewing process, during which each paper was scrutinized by at least three experts in the field. The papers cover a wide spectrum of enterprise interoperability issues, ranging from foundational theories, frameworks, architectures, methods and guidelines to applications, and case studies. In addition, this volume also includes the two invited keynotes.

Composed of over 50 papers, "Enterprise Interoperability" ranges from academic research through case studies to industrial and administrative experience of interoperability. The international nature of the authorship continues to broaden. Many of the papers have examples and illustrations calculated to deepen understanding and generate new ideas. This is a concise reference to the state-of-the-art in software interoperability.