processes running on one or more machines to interact. This tech-nology evolved to provide for interoperability in support of themove to coherent distributed architectures.•Interoperability conformance & testing: software interoperabilitytesting is the activity of proving that end-to-end functionalitybetween (at least) two communicating systems as required bythose systems’ base standards.•Interoperable software models & building blocks: an interoperablesoftware model usually defines a technical infrastructure. Addi-tionally, the mediator defines the mechanisms (connectors) tobe used for the interaction and communication between compo-nents.In software systems interoperability issue, web servicesinteroperability sub-area is considered in Interoperability Devel-opment for Enterprise Application and Software Framework,ATHENA Interoperability Framework, and GridWise Interoper-ability Context-Setting Framework. The middleware architecturessub-area is not supported by any of the E-business InteroperabilityFramework. The sub-area of interoperability conformance and test-ing is only addressed by ATHENA Interoperability Framework, andthe sub-area of interoperable software models and building blocksis only considered by Interoperability Development for Enter-prise Application and Software Framework. Table 5 illustrates themapping of software systems interoperability sub-areas to E-business Interoperability Framework.4.6. Cultural interoperabilityCultural interoperability is the degree to which knowledge andinformation is anchored to a unified model of meaning acrosscultures. Enterprise systems that take into consideration culturalinteroperability aspects can be used by transnational groups in dif-ferent languages and cultures with the same domain of interest ina cost-effective and efficient manner (Koussouris et al., 2011). Thecultural interoperability includes the following sub-areas:•Language interoperability: language interoperability refers to theautomatic and seamless translation of physical languages.•Alignment in traditions, religions and ethics: alignment in tradi-tions, religions and ethics refers to finding ways of respectingeach individual’s cultural needs while at the same time promotingcollaboration and cooperation.In cultural interoperability issue, language interoperability sub-area is considered by ATHENA Interoperability Framework andGridWise Interoperability Context-Setting Framework. The sub-area of Alignment in traditions, religions and ethics is not supportedby any of the E-business Interoperability Framework. Table 6presents the mapping of cultural interoperability sub-areas to E-business Interoperability Framework.4.7. Knowledge interoperabilityKnowledge interoperability is the ability of two or more dif-ferent entities to share their intellectual assets, take immediateadvantage of the mutual knowledge and utilize it, and to furtherextend them through cooperation (Koussouris et al., 2011). Sub-areas of knowledge interoperability are as follows:•Knowledge sharing & knowledge repositories: knowledge sharingand knowledge repositories refers to the employment of meth-ods and tools for recording and storing knowledge in a way thatis retrievable and meaningful to every party that is allowed toaccess it.