All entities in the market and all entities that are shared in the ecosystem come as twins. Twins consist of a model (modeling twin) that represents the Software or Hardware artifact (SW/HW twin). Think of the modeling twin as a bridge between traditional software artifacts and the modeling world. The modeling twin is similar to data sheets in the PC Analogy.

The modeling twin is always supplied and handed over between roles in the ecosystem. The SW/HW twin might be supplied later or might not exist at all. It might not exist, for example, when the artifact is purely intended for modeling. Entities in the market will never be just HW/SW artifacts without a modeling twin as then the artifact cannot be used. One can continue building a system independently with only the modeling twin, then supplying the HW/SW twin later.

The modeling twin is a representative and abstraction of the artifact it represents. It explicates necessary properties to work with it. Supplying a modeling twin does not equal to exposing all details: IP can still be protected as the modeling twin only have to expose the information that is relevant to use it: internal structures can remain hidden.

The modeling twin is is similar to the “digital twin”¹⁾ in IoT and industry 4.0. It, however, is beyond bridging the physical world to the digital world: it focuses on having a representative of physical entities or software entities for modeling purposes.

• PC Analogy