(Updated 7/10 by Brittain)

This is a frequently asked question and justifiably so.  Before we answer the question directly, a little background.  nGenera is a complete platform (Big P) for business transformation including advisory services, partners, education, and technology.  Read Steve Douty's primer "How nGenera works" for a great introduction to the Big P.

The technology assets can be divided into three main areas:

• SaaS Applications.  Prepackaged apps within each of our product offerings (nGen leadership, nGen customer, and nGen talent).  These applications reuse our other technology assets.
• Software Services.  Reusable business functionality packaged for easy distribution and integration.  The roadmap for services is depicted here.  As of this writeup the following services are available:
  • Provision Service. 
  • User Service.
  • Storage Service.
  • PubSub Service.
  • Simulation Execution Service.
  • Visit the Sample Application for links to documentation on all services.
• The nGenera Platform (little P).  The purpose of this writeup ... read on for the details.

What the little P is NOT

Let's start by eliminating some common misconceptions about the nGenera Platform:

• A Runtime or Execution Environment.  Little P isn't a container for running arbitrary componentry.  In other words, it's not a level 3 platform.  We do support widget embedding and we have level 1 APIs (using the same terms), but we've no desire to be anyone's runtime container.  In addition, we've a wholly different approach to mashups (see "Architectural Style" below) that is complementary to runtime container technologies.
• The Hub, nGen Collaboration, TCS, CIM, or any other nGenera product.  The little P is supporting technology for all other nGenera products and definitely distinct from those other products.
• An Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) or Integration Engine.  Certainly the little P promotes some sharing of data (see "Reusable Data") and helps integrate complementary systems (see "Open System"); however, little P value proposition extends beyond these goals.  In practice, the little P often employs an ESB for its own integration needs.

What the little P IS

So what is the little P then?  The little P is defined by the following principles and artifacts.

Principles 

• A Heterogeneous System.  Little P is not prescriptive of any one implementation technology.  We expect one may choose varying implementation languages, protocols, and supporting services for legitimate business purposes.   
• An Open System.  Little P encourages integration between systems and corporations.  We facilitate this goal by exposing both data and UI service endpoints.  Read our Platform Integration Strategy article for details.
• An Architectural Style combining SOA with Widget-based GUI Elements. Consistency and comprehensibility are achieved by developing as a service-oriented architecture.  Integration and mashups are emphasized by having those services expose user interface widgets alongside their traditional functional- and data-serving APIs. 
• Leveragable, Reusable Data.  Little P identifies and actively promotes the monetization of data in forms such as best practices, templates, and software workflows.
• "The Cloud" as an Execution Environment.  Little P emphasizes tangible customer value.  The "distractions" of infrastructure maintenance are discarded in favor of recently available cloud services from vendors like Amazon, Google, Yahoo, and others.  This is a controversial position and certainly worth a lengthy discussion of its own; however, for our purposes we assume this principle is true and alternate discussions are beyond our current scope.
• An Evolving System.  Change is good.  Our principles evolve and our artifacts grow, improve, and die.

Artifacts

These artifacts are exclusive of any applications or software services mentioned above.

• Certification Rules.  The nGen RA Certification provides categories as guidance for engineers who may be constructing little P-compatible software services. 
• Construction Best Practices.  Whenever possible detailed education is supplied on all construction topics (e.g. design, implementation, testing, deployment, etc.).  In addition, a live Sample Application can be used for integration and education purposes. 
• Integration and Test Environment.  New partners, applications, and services can be deployed into the nGen I&T Environment as a proving ground for interoperability.
• Software Development Kit (SDK).  Distributable source code is available for Ruby and Java that eases interaction with all little P assets.