The New Killer App: Component Software
As the work continues under the direction of the Global Information Sharing Advisory Committee (a Federal Advisory Committee to DOJ) to develop concepts for the application of service oriented arcitecture (SOA) to the justice world, the coming together of XML, the Global Justice XML Data Model, and web services in the SOA approach to justice information systems, there will emerge a new class of component software that will have both disruptive and transformative impacts on justice automation. Instead of developing complete classical case mangement systems, it is highly likely that some companies will opt to create component software that can be applied in an SOA that integrates components into application software suites.
Generic component software usable in justice information systems already exists, such as components related to security with such capabilities as single sign-on, and there are components available for creating the specific file format defined by the NIST standard for fingerprint and mugshot submission. At least 2 companies have created powerful name matching software with thousands of rules to handle global name variations so important in the war on terrorism.
While many of these components were developed prior to the recognition of the applicability and value of SOA, they will inevitably be extended to conform to the emerging standards being adopted in the GJXDM and positioned for use in an SOA adopted by state and local agencies.
Once again, the commercial world is advanced beyond the justice IT world. Information Week published a special issue on the future of software (December 6, 2004) in which Tony Kontzer argues in an article about killer applications of the future that "companies out in front developing service-oriented architectures also may have a jump on building the next potentially transformative application component."
An example of the kind of component software that will emerge in the future is the open standard based exchange of criminal history information that was developed for NLETS by ATS to follow GJXDM, XML, and web services based standards. Schema and documentation are readily available to agencies who wish to take advantage of this component in their information exchanges. In the next few years, many other companies will be developing and selling components in addition to total application systems.
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