Service federation in virtual organizations

The practical implantation of the concept of dynamic virtual enterprise is still far from expectations due to a number of factors such as the lack of appropriate interoperable infrastructures and tools, lack of common ontology, and the socio-organizational difficulties. However, the creation of industry clusters supported by advanced information and communication tools can meanwhile provide a basis for the rapid creation of dynamic virtual enterprises in response to the market opportunities. A federated service management approach is introduced in this context and its application to the tourism industry is discussed. Finally, the support for the aggregation of simpler services into value-added services, implemented by distributed business processes within different organizations, is presented.