What is the purpose of a reference model?
A Reference Model is used by architects as a template for composing architectures. Much the same way as the auto industry agrees on the logical divisions in components of a car, software architecture use it to make logical divisions and groupings within their architectures. It makes sense if an industry does this since it helps alignment of vendor products to meet the requirements of the architecture and allows customers of those companies to understand where their products fit into their corporate architecture, much the same way as a tire manufacturer knows that an auto manufacturer knows implicitly that a “wheel” is a round component that bolts to a “hub” and accepts a “tire” into its’ rim. Unlike specific architectures however, the reference model does not specify what size the wheel is or what bolt pattern it must use; only that it has those attributes.
