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The last decades have shown tremendous advances in the field of information technology (IT). In fact, with online access to vast amounts of information, states offering their services for citizens on the World Wide Web, and software in control of critical areas such as flight control systems, information systems now lie at the very foundations of our society. But it is the business sector where IT has had the most impact. Driven by the need to stay competitive in an environment of rapid change in global markets and business models, as well as local regulations and requirements, organizations now strongly depend on a functional and efficient IT infrastructure which is flexible enough to deal with unexpected changes while still offering stability for business processes and connections to customers, partners, and suppliers.

With the emerging trend of automating complex and distributed business processes as a whole, many …