Back in the 1960s, computer science engineers invented a system of distributed computers exchanging information among themselves, namely today's Internet, as a fusion of information processing and telecommunication technologies. Today, after almost forty years, the Internet has established itself as an essential part of the social infrastructure, something people and businesses can no longer do without. The Internet now provides an environment where people can access digital information from all over the world and freely exchange it among themselves, thanks to the common protocol called IP. In short, the Internet is the global infrastructure of digital communications.
By now, this environment has grown in several steps: global connections using the IP, and the spread of the Internet technologies promoted by the WWW technology. The Internet today enjoys its solid status as the infrastructure of industries, thanks to the business-oriented security technologies. Now, the Net is evolving into an environment of permanent, high-speed connections, ie., a broadband and ubiquitous networking environment. The Internet was originally a low-cost telecommunication infrastructure built upon the existing telephone systems, and this infrastructure was not able to support quality telecommunication services. Today, however, the never-ending technological innovations and implementations have made the Internet outgrow its original foundation , and the telephone systems are in turn becoming part of the Internet. In this new century, the Internet is growing into broader infrastructure of information and telecommunications, which carries voice (telephone) communications as well as broadcasting services.
Many new requirements of the upper layers are emerging, demanded by upcoming applications which require such layers to meet certain specifications and functionality. At the same time, the Internet protocol itself, needs to work with the network that is expanding further and further enveloping the world. The number of nodes (access points) should increase dramatically. In addition to this, the demand is exploding for security, multicast, and all the other technologies that have only been experimental so far. To meet these new demands and growth, the protocol itself has to evolve accordingly. Thus, in order to meet the requirements of this coming new era of the Net, efforts are being made to upgrade the IP from the current Version 4 to Version 6.
Furthermore, digital communications and business models based on the Internet originally began with the peer-to-peer (B-to-B) model. Today, they have evolved into the client-server model (B-to-C). Now, at the dawn of the 21st century, we are witnessing the emergence of the new greater peer-to-peer model (C-to-C) and finding broader uses for it. Good examples of this new peer-to-peer model is Napster and Gnutella. We will certainly see more new business models based on this peer-to-peer model emerge in the near future, and it has the power to change the industrial structure of society as we know it.
Being aware of these trends and developments, this report addresses the current situation, and trends involving the research, development, and management of Internet-based business models, as well as basic and fundamental technologies.

Chapter 2 Forms of using and applying the Internet
2.1 How the Internet is used
2.1.1 Use by individuals
2.1.2 Use by corporations
2.2 Internet business
2.2.1 New businesses in Internet connections
2.2.2 Internet-related businesses
2.3 Telecommunication infrastructure
2.3.1 Access networks
2.3.2 Backbone networks
2.4 Issues and tasks in use of the Internet
2.5 Summary

Chapter 3 How IP Version 6 stands now and where it is heading for
3.1 Introduction
3.2 IPv6 technology outlined
3.2.1 Outline
3.2.2 How development of IPv6 technology is in progress
3.3 Need for an end-to-end architecture
3.4 Fields where implementation of IPv6 is essential
3.4.1 Permanent Internet connections to SOHOs and homes
3.4.2 Networks within the home
3.4.3 Mobile nodes
3.4.4 Sensor nodes
3.5 Issues that must be solved to spread IPv6
3.6 Summary

Chapter 4 How nations use test beds and conduct research and development
4.1 How North America and Germany are using test beds
4.1.1 Current situation with test beds for next-generation networks
4.1.2 Themes in R&D of Internet2, NGI, CA*net3, G-WIN, and their related organizations
4.2 Current situation with test beds in Japan
4.2.1 JGN (Japan Gigabit Network) outlined
4.2.2 JGN research projects
4.2.3 WIDE Project
4.2.4 Researches detailed
4.2.5 Summary
4.3 Proposals to test bed creation in Japan
4.3.1 DARPAfs R&D and major issues in R&D activities related to measurement in the U.S. and Canada
4.3.2 R&D items involving test beds that Japan should carry out

Chapter 5 Analysis of and policies related to Internet business models
5.1 Business models categorized
5.1.1 Categorization of the Internet economy
5.1.2 E-commerce categorized by the products carried and processes involved
5.2 Distribution of Internet business models in the U.S.
5.2.1 General trends in the U.S. with e-commerce
5.2.2 Internet infrastructure layer
5.2.3 Internet application layer
5.2.4 Internet mediator layer
5.2.5 Internet commerce layer
5.3 Current situation with U.S. gdotcomh and venture businesses
5.3.1 U.S. venture capitalists (VCs) and their criteria in choosing businesses to invest in
5.3.2 gDotcomh businesses
5.4 Japanfs deregulation and policies related to e-commerce
5.4.1 Deregulation
5.4.2 Refining regulations
5.5 Issues to solve in promoting e-commerce
5.6 Summary

Chapter 6 Internet governance
6.1 Internet governance outlined
6.1.1 ISOC (Internet Society)
6.1.2 IAB (Internet Architecture Board)
6.1.3 IESG (Internet Engineering Steering Group)
6.1.4 IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force)
6.1.5 IRTF (Internet Research Task Force)
6.1.6 ISTF (Internet Societal Task Force)
6.1.7 W3C
6.1.8 ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers)
6.1.9 IANA
6.1.10 IEPG (Internet Engineering and Planning Group)
6.1.11 CERT (Computer Emergency Response Team)
6.1.12 Standardization process at IETF
6.2 IRTFfs activities outlined
6.2.1 Outline
6.2.2 Research Group
6.3 IETFfs activities outlined
6.3.1 General area
6.3.2 User services area
6.3.3 Internet area
6.3.4 Routing area
6.3.5 Transport area
6.3.6 Operations and management area
6.3.7 Security area
6.3.8 Application area

Chapter 7 Technologies required by next-generation Internet
7.1 What next-generation Internet technologies mean to us
7.2 Issues to solve related to next-generation Internet
7.2.1 Increased traffic and QoS
7.2.2 Content delivery network technologies
7.2.3 Wireless / mobile telecommunications
7.2.4 High-speed, high-function packet transfer technologies
7.2.5 IP multicast technologies
7.2.6 Technologies related to security and privacy protection
7.2.7 Protection of rights, and functions to distribute and bill, for rights

Chapter 8 Current situation with business model patents
8.1 Outline
8.2 Trends in the U.S.
8.2.1 Trends in policies
8.2.2 Activities of U.S. corporations
8.3 Trends in Japan
8.3.1 Trends in policies 8.3.2 Activities of Japanese corporations
8.4 Issues to solve

Chapter 9 Trends in U.S. IT policies
9.1 History of IT-related policies in the U.S.
9.1.1 Roles public and private sectors play in stimulating industries
9.1.2 Major research policies outlined
9.2 Skills to secure budget at the U.S. government
9.3 Features of the U.S. governmentfs investments in researches
9.4 Scenario for a successful IT venture
9.5 Summary

Chapter 10 Conclusion

Chapter 1 Outline

Digital information and telecommunication technologies, especially those of the Internet, should play a crucial role in creating the digital economy of this century, as the foundation upon which this economy stands. Although Japan enjoys international recognition in some components, devices, and consumer electronics, it is not necessarily a world leader in terms of system technologies and their product, standardization, and user base. As a matter of fact, Japan is following behind the other leading nations. Despite this situation, in some fields of technology, Japan holds global leadership in IPv6 and some other technologies as well as their systematization, standardization, products, and user base. The nation is determined to lead the world in development and spread of such technologies and this way contribute to the welfare of the world. All in all, however, Japan is still lagging behind the leading nations in digital information industries as a whole, especially when compared to North America.

In this century, the evolution of the digital infrastructure of information and telecommunications, with the Internet occupying its core, is expected to be driven more by individual users than corporate users. So far, business applications of such infrastructure have been corporation-oriented, as typified by how PCs and work stations have been used. From now onwards, this infrastructure will find its way into personal digital information devices, such as mobile digital devices and networked household electronics. Thus, as the government and corporations try to determine which way they should go with respect to digital technologies, it is crucial to study and consider such issues as: where digital information and telecommunication technologies stand now, how Internet businesses are using those technologies in their operations, what methods are employed in R&D of foundational technologies in North America and Europe, what IETF and other institutions are doing for Internet governance, and what technologies Japan should develop in the years to come.

This report summarizes the studies on those issues:
(1) Use and applications of the Internet
The digital information infrastructure is growing to soon provide permanent broadband connections in both wired and wireless environments. Those deregulation measures taken in 2000, in Japan, are introducing the principle of free market competition into the nationfs telecommunication industry. This principle is what drove the industryfs expansion in North America. And throughout the years 2001 and 2002, permanent broadband connections are to be provided to households at reasonable rates.
(2) Where IP Version 6 technologies stand today and where they are heading for
As permanent connections and the ubiquitous telecom environment are expanding, IP Version 6 is becoming a must. The IP Version 6 technology can still maintain the end-to-end architecture in the future, which is what enabled the Internet to expand and grow so far. Japan is leading the world in terms of this technology, and the nation should, in a strategic way, develop industries using IPv6 and promote R&D activities involving this technology.
(3) How nations are using test beds and conducting R&D
In North America, industrial and academic circles are jointly, and systematically, promoting R&D activities and developing new industries, making good use of their test beds. This joint system has been functioning well. In Japan, the Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications (formerly the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications) is promoting a project called the JGN (Japan Gigabit Testbed). This and many other efforts indicate that an institutional system is emerging, that helps both academic and industrial circles to jointly promote research and development activities of the next-generation Internet. Especially notable is the WIDE Project, whose administration format is unique to Japan. The project has made considerable contribution to the nationfs Internet technology researches and popularity.
(4) Analysis of, and policies related to, Internet business models
This section analyzes the Internet business models. The 20th century saw B-to-B and B-to-C models developed for global use. In this new century, a new C-to-C business model is expected to follow. B-to-B is a form of the peer-to-peer model, B-to-C, a kind of the client-server model. And the up and coming C-to-C is a new kind of peer-to-peer model. It is of urgent necessity to research and develop new foundational technologies required by this new peer-to-peer, C-to-C systems.
(5) Internet governance
This section looks at systems to run and manage the Internet, and organize them in a comprehensible way. In particular, this section summarizes the latest activities of the sub-committees of the IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force), an organization which defines international standards in Internet technology.
(6) Technologies needed to build the next-generation Internet
We need to promote R&D activities of foundational technologies for the next-generation Internet. Such technologies include, among others, fast, large-capacity information transmission and exchange (which are essential in creating a permanent broadband connection environment), those system and element technologies necessary to deliver multimedia digital data, those element and system technologies required to provide a global, fast wireless Internet access environment, and those foundational technologies to enable delivery and distribution of fully digital media of the Internet age.
(7) Current situation with business model patents
The situation with business model patents has been chaotic until recently, but finally it is settling down and more people are recognizing that such patents can be treated in the same way as conventional patents. Still, we need ordered and strategic efforts in promoting a system to manage business model patents.
(8) Trends in U.S. policies for information technology
This section surveys the U.S. governmentfs policies related to information technology. Basically, Japan has very similar policies and programs and there is not much difference in the systematic framework of such policies between the two countries. Still, one major difference exists, and this is, how they administer such policies and the ability of the administrators.

Considering the future development of Internet-based business models, we can expect an end-to-end model to emerge, which distributes digital information in the C-to-C way, based on the peer-to-peer model. The foundational technology required to support such a model is IP Version 6, something in which Japan fortunately has an international edge at this moment. Also, we have found that there are many element technologies yet to be developed which are essential in enabling C-to-C type business infrastructure to function. There are especially, a large number of such technologies in the fields of management of rights and security. We need to see a whole group of industries grow in maturiy, including international standardization, product development, spread of products, and more. And in terms of such industrial growth, test beds and verification tests are of absolute necessity, as evidenced by their success in North America in the late 20th century.

Chapter 10 Conclusion
The 21st century should see the establishment and growth of the ubiquitous and broadband digital information infrastructure. So far, information infrastructure has been corporation (gBh)-oriented, based on the client-server model. Now, peer-to-peer systems should come into blossom, taking full advantage of what the Internet stands for, namely, its end-to-end system model, interactivity, and global coverage. In such an environment, PCs, which have so far been the main feature of information and telecommunication systems, will give way to mobile and online consumer electronics devices, the types of products in which Japan currently leads the world. Those digital information devices, however, are to be essentially different from the traditional cellular phones and household devices. Though Japan has enjoyed international recognition with the conventional cellular phones and consumer devices, the nation cannot afford to take this advantage for granted when it comes to the gdigitalh devices of the next generation. Rather, Japan needs to consider strategically how to conduct R&D activities to invent and produce truly open, general-purpose household and mobile devices that handle digital information. At the same time, the expected expansion of the end-to-end model and the growth of digital information processing technologies will result in digital information being distributed over C-to-C systems. It is essential to strategically research and develop element technologies required by such C-to-C model systems and promote the expansion of their use.
The members of the Committee earnestly hope this report will be of some help to R&D activities on information infrastructure technologies, which support the society, industries, and lives of the 21st century, to future growth of Japanfs information and telecom industries, and to the nationfs government, which should define and implement the right policies in terms of such technologies.

The Internet is expanding throughout the world, very rapidly. We at INTAP have so far studied trends with technological development and national projects related to the next-generation Internet, with our focus on the U.S. and Europe. The infrastructure is now being built and expanding to enable permanent broadband Internet connections, and developments and verification tests are in progress, of applications making use of such an infrastructure. The technological progress is rapid and we must constantly monitor the situation to keep up with the latest developments. This year, we focussed our attention on Canada, the leading nation in optical Internet technology, and found how the nation is using Internet test beds, how its communities and schools are using the optical Internet, and how applications are being developed. Also, we visited McGill University (currently conducting a research project financed by the CANARIE grant system), to view the current progress of its application development project, the Advanced Learnware Network, which takes advantage of CA*net3, and also to hear opinions from users of the series provided by a research project called ANAST, which utilizes the Internet for education. Our findings are described in Chapter 1.

As rapid telecommunication networks are improving and expanding, Internet Data Centers (iDC) and Application Service Providers (ASP) are attracting the attentions of many providers of new Internet services. They are expected to influence the future of the information processing industry quite significantly. We, therefore, investigated what such service providers are doing in the U.S., where they have considerable financial backing, and in Europe, where they are trying to create their own unique business models. In the U.S., we collaborated with a research firm called IP Devices, Inc. to conduct an gSurvey of Internet Data Centers and ASPs.h Also, we visited and examined Corio(an ASP which provides hosting service to PeopleSoft), and Equinox(a data center), to see how these businesses stand today and their expectations for growth in the future, and to learn about some specific customers of their ASP/IDC services. In Europe, we visited TELEHOUSE EUROPE, AboveNet, Interxion, and some other corporations. Results from these visits are summarized in the gReport from Surveys on IDC/ASP&IPv6 in Europe.h Also, we have compiled the gIDC Report - Europe, December 2000h in collaboration with PWR Limited, a research company. The findings are described in Chapter 2 of this report.

Though businesses using rapid telecom networks and iDCs/ASPs seem to be in full blossom, however, in reality they are not necessarily making any profit. E-commerce has been anticipated to expand for some time but its boom days have passed and gone. It is time for e-commerce businesses to establish rational, well-thought-out plans. We, therefore, reviewed how e-commerce stands today in the U.S., and what business models are being used. The results from this study are summarized as gTrends in New Business Models with E-commerce and Other Services,h which is described in Chapter 3.

In Japan, the Government lists the spread of super-fast Internet among the basic objectives of the national information technology strategy. The Government is determined to develop the future super-fast Internet with IPv6, incorporating mobile terminals and gconnectedh household electronic appliances. Though this basic direction is correct, it remains to be seen how soon the transition from IPv4 to IPv6 will occur, and many network device vendors are concerned over this timing. We have recently attended the IPv6 conferences in the U.S. and Europe to learn about the IPv6 trends in the participating nations. The report from the conference held in Europe is presented in Chapter 2, and the report from the one held in the U.S. is presented in Chapter 3.

To conclude this report, Chapter 4 presents the current U.S. policies for information technology industries. It covers issues such as policies to promote information technology, requests for, allocation, and spending of the national budget, how national projects are carried out, and the environment where venture businesses start up.

Though this has become a rather lengthy report, we hope it will be of some help to the promotion of information technology in Japan.

Chapter 2 iDC/ASP
2.1 Report from Surveys on IDC/ASP&IPv6 in Europe
2.1.1 Visitors and reporters
2.1.2 Itinerary of the visit
2.1.3 Categories of the IDCs visited
2.1.4 Details of the survey
2.2 Report from the iDC survey, Europe, December 2000
2.2.1 Summary
2.2.2 Introduction
2.2.3 Outline
2.2.4 iDC profiles
2.2.5 Businesses using ASP facilities
2.2.6 Appendix I
2.3 Report from the survey on Internet data centers and ASPs
2.3.1 Introduction
2.3.2 Table of the contents of this report
2.3.3 iDC market
2.3.4 Kinds of hosting services
2.3.5 iDC
2.3.6 Hearings
2.3.7 Replies to inquiries
2.3.8 Proposals to the Japanese Government
2.3.9 Appendix
2.4 iDC/ASP survey
2.4.1 Corio
2.4.2 Equinox

Chapter 3 Trends in New Business Models with E-commerce and Other Services
3.1 Final report from the survey on e-commerce business plans
3.1.1 Contents
3.1.2 Introduction
3.1.3 Categories of e-commerce
3.1.4 Trends in the venture business market
3.1.5 Venture capitalists (VCs)
3.1.6 Current situation of the e-commerce market
3.1.7 Players in the e-commerce market
3.1.8 Past and present with gdotcomsh
3.1.9 Conclusion
3.1.10 Appendix
3.2 Report from our representatives at the IPv6 Forum 2000
3.2.1 Reporters
3.2.2 Overall summary
3.2.3 The sessions outlined
3.2.4 Details of the lectures
3.2.5 Tables and figures

Chapter 4 Report on the trends in the U.S. information technology industries
4.1 Introduction
4.2 U.S. R&D systems
4.2.1 History of the U.S. policies on information technology
4.2.2 Specific measures of promotion
4.2.3 How they run the R&D organizations and systems in the U.S.
4.2.4 Ownership of the research products
4.3 How they obtain budget allocation to information technology R&D activities, in the case of the NII-related budget
4.3.1 How they secure allocation of budget to information technology R&D
4.3.2 Obtaining allocation of the NII-related budget in the HPC method
4.3.3 Obtaining allocation of the NII-related budget after HPC
4.3.4 Later situation
4.3.5 R&D investments enlarged by the Basic Act of Science and Technology
4.4 R&D systems to stimulate information technology industries in the private sector
4.4.1 Advanced Technology Program (ATP)
4.4.2 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program
4.5 Balancing R&D budget among the industrial, academic, and governmental circles, in the U.S. and Japan
4.5.1 How they allocate R&D budget in the U.S.
4.5.2 Japanese R&D budget compared to that of the U.S.
4.6 Characteristics of projects jointly carried by industrial and governmental circles, as seen in NSFNET
4.6.1 History of NSFNET so far
4.6.2 The roles played by private corporations (IBM and MCI)
4.7 Scenario for successful information technology ventures
4.7.1 General image of a successful venture business in the U.S.
4.7.2 Japanese measures to assist venture businesses
4.7.3 How to make an information technology venture successful
4.8 Summary
4.8.1 Major issues of the sections above summarized
4.8.2 Issues with Japanese R&D policies and how they are handled
4.8.3 Conclusion
4.9 For your reference

The Web technology has dramatically expanded the Internet, an open networking environment. The technology has also spread e-commerce. Today, the Internet is evolving extremely rapidly. As a result, countless corporations are reshaping themselves or resorting to M&As in an effort to keep up with the rapid changes. And these corporations are searching for cutting-edge businesses that fully utilize the Internet. Even in the field of software development, the term gobject-orientedh is no longer limited to the world of programming languages. Recently, the term has found its way into many areas, in the forms of UML, distributed objects, components, and so on.
Amidst such a situation, gopen, distributed processingh has a new, enhanced practical significance. As we look at the situation involving the ODP standard promoted by ISO/IEC and ITU-T, OMG modeling and distributed object technologies, W3Cfs XML and many different vendorsf XML initiatives, we can justly say gopen and distributedh is among the basic forces driving the current technological innovations, apart from how they are applied to specific uses.
We at INTAPfs Open Distributed Processing Committee, recognizing the trend described above, are planning to define gGuidelines to use RM-ODP in open distributed processingh that can be applied to analysis and designing of open distributed processing systems. These guidelines are independent of any specific vendorfs technologies and are based on the international standards applicable, and use common vocabulary and concepts. We hope the guidelines will be of great help to those developing open systems, integrating legacy systems, developing large-scale systems, etc., in the early stages of their efforts. In short, we hope they will serve the public interests.

[Acronyms]
- ISO: International Organization for Standardization
- IEC: International Electrotechnical Commission
- ITU-T: International Telecommunication Union, Telecommunication Standardization Sector
- RM-ODP: Reference Model for Open Distributed Processing
- OMG: Object Management Group
- W3C: World Wide Web Consortium
- XML: eXtensible Markup Language

Chapter 2 Modeling technologies in open distributed processing
2.1 RM-ODP
2.2 UML outlined
2.3 The committeefs opinions on the modeling technologies

Chapter 3 Survey of instances of RM-ODP applications
3.1 Synapses
3.2 DISGIS
3.3 OMS GS
3.4 OMG Party management

Chapter 4 Survey of related instances
4.1 UML Profile for EDOC (Enterprise Distributed Object Computing)
4.2 ebXML
4.3 OAG

Chapter 5 Developmental experiments of medical information enterprise models
5.1 Outline
5.2 Results
5.3 Evaluation

Chapter 6 Thoughts on the results of the activities
6.1 Current situation of RM-ODP and what is expected of it
6.2 Evaluation from the viewpoint of defining RM-ODP guidelines
6.3 Future outlook and plan for 2001
6.4 Other opinions

Appendix I RM-ODP Tutorial ISO IEC 10746 ITU-T Rec X. 900-2 & 3
Appendix II RM-ODP Tutorial Enterprise language Final CD.ppt
Appendix III Synapses Enterprise Viewpoint
Appendix IV Synapses Information Viewpoint
Appendix V Synapses Computational Viewpoint
Appendix VI Synapses Engineering Viewpoint
Appendix VII DISGIS Enterprise Viewpoint
Appendix VIII DISGIS Information Viewpoint
Appendix IX DISGIS Computational Viewpoint
Appendix X DISGIS Engineering Viewpoint
Appendix XI OMG-GL Facility Enterprise Viewpoint
Appendix XII OMG-GL Facility Informational Viewpoint
Appendix XIII OMG-GL Facility Computational Viewpoint
Appendix XIV OMG-GL Facility Enterprise
Appendix XV EDOC
Appendix XVI ebXML outlined
Appendix XVII Report on development of Japanese enterprise models of hospital information reference systems
Appendix XVIII Evaluation report

Chapter 1 On the Activities of the Open Distributed Processing Committee

This chapter describes how and why INTAP initiated this committee dedicated to researching open distributed processing systems, as well as the trends in the related technologies, and what objectives the committee aims to accomplish and how. Though this field of technology currently needs more basic research, in the future, the committee hopes to develop and extend its research activities further to cover more application issues, such as methodologies of modeling and software development, and tools that assist such methodologies. These are the kind of studies the committee is meant to conduct. This year, as the first step of its sequence of activities, the committee carried out some studies on the related technologies and some application tests of specific minor systems. It is too soon to draw any conclusion out of these minor tests. This report is meant to be an interim report.

1.1 Its intentions and objectives

As enterprise systems grow larger and more complex, it is becoming harder to understand, maintain, and functionally enhance such systems. We are witnessing some cases of problems with integration of heterogeneous systems, which is necessary when two or more corporations merge or form a partnership. As part of the efforts to resolve such problems, a new methodology is sought that will define a system in a systematic framework, and divides software into simple interface components, so that the people involved in the system can easily see how the system is built and run. Also, there are attempts to reconsider legacy systems from viewpoints of some standard models. In case of bringing together two homogeneous systems, for instance, two accounting systems, very often it is good enough to standardize a protocol and data communicated between the two systems. When it comes to linking two heterogeneous systems, for instance, medical and financial systems, it is essential to compare the business models and processes of the two systems with the same level of vocabulary. Otherwise, designing the systems that links those two systems together can be agonizing or unnecessarily complex.

We are witnessing the following necessities arising from systems development in the Internet environment:
- Demand for connecting or incorporating new e-business applications to or into a legacy system.
- Demand for upgrading the linkage between multiple legacy systems from integration of applications inside a corporation into that of applications across the corporations involved for B2B e-commerce, i.e., into a virtual enterprise.
- Demand for business-level standards to integrate multiple different environments of distributed objects and components, such as CORBA/CCM, OM/DCOM, Java/EJB, the Web, etc.
Now, by gbusiness-level standardsh we refer to those of business processes and modeling. Such standards should support and assist gmutual understanding of semanticsh on the business level by clearly defining how business elements involved relate to each other and what role each element should play. Such clear definition is essential when bringing business applications together. With respect to such business-level standards, R&D activities are currently underway to create general standards as well as those meant for the respective fields of business.

With the situation being as described above, there were some opinions calling for INTAP to develop some solutions for large-scale software out of the gReference Model for Open Distributed Processing,h a product of INTAPfs researches in OSI technologies, which used to be the focus of the associationfs activities.

The Reference Model for Open Distributed Processing (RM-ODP) has been made into a standard by discussions between ISO/IEC and ITU as a reference model for open distributed processing systems, just like the seven-layered model of OSI. The reference model defines a system from five viewpoints, namely, Enterprise, Information, Computational, Engineering, and Technology. This model lets people see a system from those five different viewpoints and thus help them understand the system better. The model, therefore, is expected to provide some very helpful means to solve the problems mentioned above. Three of the five viewpoints, Computational, Engineering, and Technology, fit well into a processing environment of distributed objects and have been mostly made into products. Today, we need to conduct further studies mostly on the remaining two, Enterprise and Information.

The following measures are currently in progress with respect to RM-ODP:
ISO/IEC and ITU are trying to enhance and expand the Enterprise Viewpoint. The Object Management Group (OMG), a group involved in this effort, is currently carrying out some projects including UML (Unified Modeling Language), Meta Data Facility, Action Semantics, and others. In addition to these, another project called UML Profile for EDOC (Enterprise Distributed Object Computing) is underway to combine RM-ODP and UML.

Considering all those developments, INTAP has decided to launch a committee dedicated to researches, experiments, and tests as part of its efforts to study and understand the current technologies related to reference models for open distributed processing, and develop solutions to the problems involved. At the same time, the committee continues to survey the latest trends with distributed object technologies.

1.2 Its activities and accomplishments

INTAPfs intention in founding the Open Distributed Processing Committee was to make clear whether RM-ODP can actually help the gupperh processes of software development and, if it can, how. The committeefs responsibilities are to learn the effectiveness, remaining tasks, application know-how, etc. of RM-ODP by means of analysing instances of applying RM-ODP and conducting tests of its applications set to some specific system assumptions. The products of such activities are to be published to the general public in the form of gGuidelines to use RM-ODP in open distributed processing,h which the committee is trying to define.

The committee has chosen medical information systems as a field of applications of RM-ODP to be assumed in its tests and experiments. To define the Enterprise Viewpoint of a system, participation of experts in the field are essential. Fortunately, people of the Japanese Association of Healthcare Information Systems Industry (JAHIS) and the Medical Information Development Center (MEDIS-DC, an incorporated foundation) are seriously interested in RM-ODP, and the committee has successfully obtained their cooperation in joint researches. Also, the Consortium for Business Object Promotion (CBOP), renowned for its excellence in systems modeling technology, has agreed to join the joint researches.

The committee defined its activities for 2000 as follows:
(1) Study of RM-ODP and modeling technology
(2) Analysis of instances of applying RM-ODP
(3) Tests of applying RM-ODP to medical information systems

In the analysis of application instances, the committee divided its personnel into some categories of systems employed abroad, such as healthcare, distributed geographic information, accounting, and so on. Also, the research also covered ebXML, with which, use of standard business models and UML is considered, though ebXML is not actually an instance of applying RM-ODP. With respect to application tests, the committee carried out gDevelopment of Medical Information Enterprise Modelh as a joint project with INTAP, JAHIS, and MEDIS-DC. Though this was the first project of its kind and naturally there were so many difficult issues to handle, the participants held a project promotion meeting every two weeks and successfully created the first version of this model.

The following chapters describe the results of those activities mentioned above. The Appendices to this report describe the Medical Information Enterprise Model, the product of the application tests conducted, as well as the documents used by the committee.

The Internet is already enjoying popular use in selling products, making reservations, content distributions, and more. Also it is finding its way into administrative services and B2B e-commerce. Though the Internet has been implemented on an infrastructure for voice communication, which was not originally intended for the Internet, today the Internet is moving onto a new purpose-designed infrastructure. The Japanese Government has defined some policies on information technology and are putting them into practice. Naturally, our society is expected to depend even more heavily on the Net in the future.
Amid those moves, demand is rapidly growing for Internet management technology that can efficiently provide quality services required by users.
Such gqualityh can be broadly diversified, ranging from lower-rate lower-quality to higher-rate higher-quality, in many categories such as transmission rates, security, and so forth. In the Internet, it is necessary to manage such service gqualitiesh in the multi-domain environment where multiple service providers are involved. Internet management technology, therefore, is highly complex.
As an effort to efficiently manage the net, there has arisen a new concept called gpolicy base management.h This concept aims to establish a methodology to describe managing policies of systems, and control the great diversity of Internet-related devices and equipment using instructions written according to the methodology. The concept intends to control a broad range of operations, from QoS of the backbone networks and LAN routers to security policy settings with firewalls, billing, and authentication for mobile terminals, and more. Also to be noted is management of many different devices and content distributions at Internet data centers (iDCs), which are now also covered by the concept.
Policy base management technology is a subject of heated discussions by IETF, DMTF, and other standardization organizations. Still, its implementation is in its very early stage. This means, of course, there is huge ground to cultivate with respect to this technology.
INTAP noticed the potentials of this new technology and founded the Policy Base Network Committee, to conduct related research.
This year, the committee surveyed the trends in discussions held at the standardization organizations mentioned above, how the technology is implemented in the test beds of next-generation Internet in the U.S., and the trends in vendorsf related products.
The committee also outsourced some researches to the GMD Institute of Germany, renowned for its leading-edge research activities related to policy base management, as part of the effort to collect the latest trends in the technology.
The committee hopes this report provides some help for those trying to see where this technology stands today and where it is going in the years to come.

Contents

Chapter 1 Trends in standardization (mainly with respect to IETF)
1.1 Trends with policy-WG
1.1.1 Outline
1.1.2 Fields of applications of PBN considered at IETF and IRTF
1.2 Trends with AAA-WG
1.2.1 AAA outlined
1.2.2 Launch of AAA-WG
1.2.3 AAA basic model [AAAgen]
1.2.4 Applications of AAA [AAAapp]
1.2.5 Base protocol of AAA
1.3 Efforts of other organizations
1.3.1 Those related to policy information models
1.3.2 Those related to application program interface
1.4 Documents for reference

Chapter 2 Foundational policy technologies
2.1 Framework
2.1.1 Drafts of policy framework outlined
2.1.2 DIAMETER
2.1.3 Documents for reference
2.2 Delivery of policies
2.2.1 COPS

Chapter 3 Technologies related to PEP (Policy Enforcement Point)
3.1 Traffic management
3.1.1 QoS-related technology
3.1.2 Collaborative management of QoS
3.2 Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)
3.2.1 VPN services using policies
3.2.2 Mobile VPN (MVPN)

Chapter 4 Instances of Applications
4.1 Instances abroad
4.1.1 Instance at Indiana University
4.1.2 Interlink Network
4.2 Examples of products
4.2.1 Policy Manager and other products outlined

Chapter 5 Other Fields of Applications
5.2.1 Internet data centers (iDCs)
5.2 Mobile terminals
5.2.1 Diameter Mobile IP extension and its applications
5.3 Contents Distribution Internetworking (CDI)
5.4 Documents for reference

(Appendix I) Glossary
(Appendix II) Survey on trends with policy base networks
(Appendix III) Report from representatives at iBAND 2000 Fall