Abstract. High-technology SMEs have regularly shown their capacities for creating and developing innovative services. However, their reduced size often confines them to vertical applications and limits the possibilities for broader development. Strategies grouping SMEs into collaborative networks are possible but sometimes need a strong leader to ensure credibility. On the other hand, large integrator-operators cannot be proficient in all the necessary domains, particularly when applications move very fast. They very much need the diversity and the dynamics of these SMEs to provide service packages with a common service backbone. Uniting the different actors is a challenge displaying good promises from various perspectives including sustainability. However it is necessary that the links between the different partners and their corresponding activities be correctly represented in a model to be understood. This paper proposes a new model for activities and processes in firms collaborating together in a network. The clearer understanding of organization acquired with the model is then used to discuss sustainability issues within the network.

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ftp://cui.unige.ch/iesa/I03-2--.pdfNowadays, Enterprise Integration (EI) constitutes a real and growing need for most of enterprises, especially for large and dynamic ones. It constitutes the main approach to deal with heterogeneity, and particularly to deal with semantic heterogeneity, which it forms the crucial problem of EI. This last problem is not correctly addressed by today's EI solutions that focus mainly on the technical and syntactical integration. Addressing the semantic aspect will promote EI by providing it more consistency and flexibility. Some efforts are suggested to solve the semantic problem at different level, but they are still not mature. Here, solutions based on service-oriented architectures and semantic web are promoted as nirvana of the integration problem, and they are being actively researched. The paper will outline the potential role that semantic web technologies can offer in solving some key challenges such as semantic mediation. In particular, the paper will propose a flexible approach called ODSOI (Ontology-Driven Service-Oriented Integration) that aims to extend the state-of-the-art in EI, especially in EAI (Enterprise Application Integration), in order to address the semantic problem

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