f Java's mantra is "Write once, run anywhere," the mantra of the Object Management Group's new Model Driven Architecture specification should be "Design once, build it on any platform." The spec's goal is to make enterprise systems technology-agnostic.

The model-driven architecture lays the groundwork for a connection to the Unified Modeling Language, a modeling and design methodology standardized by the Object Management Group in 1997 and supported in such tools as Computer Associates' Paradigm Plus, Rational Software's Rose, and Microsoft's Visual Modeler. The capability of systems to adapt to change--in business rules or technology requirements--is important. It's commonly accepted that 90% of the cost of large applications is incurred when they're changed, extended, or maintained.

The Object Management Group has already provided specifications for the automatic generation of Interface Definition Language code from Unified Modeling Language diagrams, a language-neutral way to specify object or component interfaces. Their goal is to have a technology-independent architectural model from which new interface code can be generated when the system changes.