When ecosystems collide: Making systems of systems work

The objective of this research is to identify issues that arise when software systems from different ecosystems are composed into a system of systems. Whether it is an explicit, managed ecosystem or the implicit ecosystem of collaborators, competitors, and users that surrounds any organization, the community of organizations has momentum in a particular direction. When a system of systems is composed using systems from each of several ecosystems the differences in communities can prevent satisfactory integration. We examine the case of a portion of the infrastructure needed to support automated driving. We use Maier's criteria that identify challenges for systems of systems as starting points for investigations into differences among ecosystems. We found points of commonality that tie together the ecosystems include use of common standards, membership by large organizations in multiple ecosystems, and influences of the outside business environment. We also found points of variation including whether the systems have compatible real-time expectations, terms of licenses, frequency of new releases, and architectural assumptions. Developers of a system of systems benefit from being aware of the similarities and differences among the ecosystems from which their systems originate because both the similarities and differences help developers anticipate the evolutionary trajectories of the individual systems.