Tim Bass
Sun, 29 Jun 2008 04:56:06 +0000

Folks defining CEP, and now this*new*term*IEP,*have been very passionate over the past few years that “Complex Event Processing” means the Processing of “Complex Events” not the “Complex Processing” of Events.***
Grammatically speaking, it follows that Complex is an adjective describing a noun, Event; and Processing is a verb.*
Complex events are defined by the same community*as composite events, or events that are composed of two or more “contributing” events.
To be consistent,*I think we*should follow the same logic and grammar in the discussion of “Intelligent Event Processing”.*
It follows that*Intelligent should be an adjective describing a noun, Event; and Processing is a verb.* It also follows that “Intelligent Event Processing” means the Processing of “Intelligent Events” not the “Intelligent Processing” of Events.***
This is precisely the problem that*folks are creating a new CEP term, “Intelligent Event Processing” to described processing capabilitities that are missing from the current suite of self-described CEP software products.** What*people really*mean*to describe is the Intelligent Processing of Complex Events.** However, based on the same grammer used in defining*CEP, they*have created the Processing of Intelligent Events.
The use of inconsistent grammar and logic is not good for the CEP community, in my opinion.** Just because the current generation of*self-described CEP vendors do not rise to the capability required by the vast majority of business event applications, we should not create new terms just to make marketing folks happy.
I think I am in a good position to speak about this, because some of my best friends work for software companies selling self-described CEP software and they have seemingly lost patience *because I refuse to support to illogical positioning and repositioning of the CEP market.
Why is*the grammar between the terms “Complex Event Processing” and “Intelligent Event Processing” inconsistent?.***Folks can only spin and reposition CEP so much before all the spin, hype, and repositioning begins to catch up with the community.***
Dr. David Luckham’s original papers and single book on CEP was clear enough*about CEP; and CEP covers the entire space that Opher Etzion would like to reposition as IEP.****The Grammar of Complex and Intelligent Events are, at best,*misleading and inconsistent.
I think the main problem is that what Opher has been describing is the Intelligent Processing of Complex Events - however, to say this would affirm what I have been*evangelizing for over two years.



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