Combining Service-Orientation with Product Line Engineering

Software product line engineering is a paradigm of software reuse for developing a family of products with reduced time to market and improved quality. Current product line approaches focus on developing statically configured products using core assets. But some researchers are investigating reusable and dynamically reconfigurable core assets, called dynamic software product lines (DSPLs). In this article, the authors discuss the challenges they faced in developing a service-oriented product line, which is a DSPL application domain that's built on services and a service-oriented architecture. These challenges include different notions of first-class objects as engineering drivers (features versus services), dynamic characteristics of a service-based system, involvement of third-party service providers, and variation (product configuration) control and management. The authors also briefly describe, as a possible solution, a QoS-aware framework that provides automated runtime support for service discovery, negotiation, monitoring, and service provider rating.