Interoperability

In modern messaging apps (like WhatsApp, Signal, or iMessage), each platform has its own way of identifying messages and securing them with cryptographic signatures. This makes interoperability — the ability of users on different apps to communicate securely — very difficult.

The IETF More Instant Messaging Interoperability (MIMI) Working Group is trying to solve this by standardizing how messaging systems communicate. Think of it as building a shared "language" and structure so different apps can exchange messages securely and meaningfully.

The Internet-Draft titled "ICN Challenges for Metaverse Platform Interoperability" [1] explores how Information-Centric Networking (ICN) can enhance interoperability among metaverse platforms. By focusing on content delivery rather than host-based communication, ICN offers features like in-network caching and inherent security, which can address key challenges in the metaverse, including scalability, low-latency performance, data ownership, and the need for standardization.

The document identifies several challenges for ICN in supporting metaverse interoperability:

The ONTO-DESIDE project - https://ontodeside.eu/ - has published early in 2023 an overview of existing ontologies and standards for interoperability in ICT systems to exchange product and materials data

The overview of ontologies and vocabularies can be found in this deliverable Table 4, and of relevant standards in Table 8 : https://ontodeside.eu/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Onto_DESIDE_Deliverable_3_1_v1.0.pdf

In order to enable a uniform understanding of all entities in the field of “logistics of goods and services” 
within the framework of the FENIX project, a data model and uniform descriptions of the entities are 
required. The FENIX semantic data model has, therefore, has been developed based on the physical 
activities in the pilots’ use cases for the transport and handling of goods. 
In order for the digital twin to be created, the physical world must be mapped over to the digital world. 

In July 2022, the IETF has published a new specification that was developed with the help of StandICT. The specification is RFC 9264, "Linkset: Media Types and a Link Relation Type for Link Sets." Here's the specification's abstract:

ISO/IEC 21823-3:2021 Internet of things (IoT) — Interoperability for IoT systems — Part 3: Semantic interoperability

https://www.iso.org/standard/83752.html

Book Chapter: PerfectO: An Online Toolkit for Improving Quality, Accessibility, and Classification of Domain-based Ontologies. Amelie Gyrard, Ghislain Atemezing, and Martin Serrano. Book: Semantic IoT: Theory and Applications - Interoperability, Provenance and Beyond. Springer 2021.

https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-03200754/

SAREF-Compliant Knowledge Discovery for Semantic Energy and Grid Interoperability. Amelie Gyrard, Antonio Kung, Olivier Genest, Alain Moreau. IEEE World Forum on Internet of Things (WF-IoT 2021) https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-03336052