5.2. Technology Independence Name: Technology Independence Statement: Applications are independent of specific technology choices and therefore can operate on a variety of technology platforms. Rationale: • Independence of applications from the underlying technology allows applications to be developed, upgraded, and operated in the most cost- effective and timely way. • Ensure that an application is not dependent on specific hardware and operating systems software realizing that IT related decisions makes the organization dependent on that technology Implications: • For SaaS and PaaS there may be limited choices given these services are technology and platform-dependent • Interfaces will need to be developed to enable interoperability with services deployed under the enterprise architecture • Middleware will be used to decouple services from specific software implementation.