Object Services and Consulting, Inc.

Tech Note

Best of Class Agent System Features

Paul Pazandak
Object Services and Consulting, Inc.
September 2, 1998


Here's a list of best-of-class features taken from evaluated agent systems. If the feature is unique, the proper system with be attributed. After (or before) this should be a list of other parts, and perhaps their sources. Another issue is where these parts will come from. I don't think it is necessarily a good idea to grab an entire system to get a specific feature -- for example, use Voyager for it's location transparency functionality. That would be like using a whole car just to get one of its parts. So if we cannot get what we want without unbundling it, I think we need to look for another source or build it ourselves.

We also need to categorize at what level the functionality needs to be plugged into the architecture. For example, NLMenu should be high-level and probably not affect the core architecture. A first suggestion (and some examples) might be:


Best of Class Agent System Functionality

Remote Agent Creation - several
Composite Agents - KAoS describes a notion of composite agents whereby a component part may migrate rather than the whole.
Substrate - Loosely-coupled sub-systems - several
Logical Collective - Jini, JATLite
Hierarchic Organization - Jini, Voyager
Security Communication Event Mgmt Mobility Persistence Itineraries High Level Communication Lifecycle Other

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