This work presents a new, abstract and comprehensive view of open distributed systems. The starting point is a small number of core concepts and basic principles, which are informally introduced and precisely defined using mathematical logic. It is shown how the basic concepts of open systems interconnection (OSI), which are currently the most important standardization activities in the context of open distributed systems, can be obtained by specialization and extension of these basic concepts. Application examples include the formal treatment of the interaction point concept and the hierarchical development of communication systems. This book is a contribution to the field of software engineering in general and to the design of open distributed systems in particular. It is oriented towards the design and implementation of real systems, and brings together both formal logical reasoning and current software engineering practice.
