Intercommability
Noun: The capability of systems, organizations, communities, and individuals to achieve seamless, adaptive, and secure identity-proofed communication across digital environments — enabling an enhanced form of interoperability that prioritizes real-time interaction, context-aware data exchange, trust, interoperability between communities, organizations, and individuals, and building community around trusted communication.
At Datum Republic, we believe the future of healthcare, public health, and digital ecosystems lies beyond simple interoperability. That’s why we’ve introduced a new framework: Intercommability — trusted, identity-proofed, communication-first interoperability that fosters dynamic collaboration between communities, organizations, and individuals.
Word Origin
The term Intercommability was coined by Natacha Fernández, CEO and Founder of Datum Republic, on June 5, 2025.
It was created to define an evolution of interoperability that enables trusted, identity-proofed, adaptive communication across digital environments.
The concept emphasizes not only interoperability between systems, but also interoperability between communities and individuals, and the importance of building community around trusted communication.
The inclusion of this core element — the role of community in fostering meaningful communication — was contributed by Vince Albanese, Founder of Red Rock Holdings, during early collaborative development of the definition.
Intercommability highlights the shift toward:
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Trust, identity-proofed communication
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Adaptive, context-aware information exchange
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Interoperability between communities, organizations, and individuals
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Building community around trusted communication
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Real-time interaction and dynamic information flow
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Collaboration across diverse environments
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Advancing beyond static data exchange toward human-centered, community-enabled interoperability
Why it Matters
Modern healthcare, public health, and digital ecosystems require more than just interoperability — they require trusted communication that connects communities, organizations, and individuals across settings, with identity, context, consent, and trust built in.
That’s why Intercommability is an essential evolution — defining the future of communication-first interoperability that fosters collaboration and community-building across the entire care and support ecosystem.
DSM & TIM+ as Enablers of Intercommability
DSM and TIM+ are foundational enablers of Intercommability — allowing trusted, identity-proofed communication to flow securely, contextually, and adaptively across communities, organizations, and individuals.
They operationalize the core principles of Intercommability — moving beyond static data exchange to foster dynamic, trusted, and identity-bound collaboration across diverse environments.
DSM (Direct Secure Messaging) → Baseline trusted message transport
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Identity-bound, cross-boundary, secure communication
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Proven foundation for enabling trusted data and message exchange between systems and organizations
TIM+ (Trusted Instant Messaging Plus) → Next-generation Intercommability platform
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Real-time, adaptive, context-rich, identity-proofed communication
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Enables dynamic workflows and trusted interaction between clinicians, community partners, and cross-sector collaborators
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Exemplifies communication-first interoperability
How DSM and TIM+ advance Intercommability:
🔷 DSM and TIM+ are key enablers of Intercommability — delivering trusted, identity-proofed, context-aware communication across healthcare, public health, and community networks.
🔷 TIM+ exemplifies Intercommability in action — enabling real-time, adaptive, identity-bound communication workflows across organizations and sectors.
🔷 Intercommability builds on the trusted communication foundations of DSM and extends them through the adaptive, real-time, community-centered capabilities of TIM+.
Attribution
Use of the term Intercommability is encouraged with attribution to:
Datum Republic
Concept originated by Natacha Fernández, CEO & Founder
Contact for collaboration or citation:
info@datumrepublic.com
