Agent technology has recently become one of the most vibrant and fastest growing areas in information technology. And advanced digital communication is a central enabling technology for the coming information society. So software agents and their exploitation for future communication systems are attracting particular attention from the research and development community as well as from economic and user communities interested in everyday private and professional digital communication applications. This monograph-like anthology is the first systematic introduction to software agents and future communication systems. Fifteen coherently written chapters by leading software agent researchers provide complementary coverage of the relevant issues. Multi-agent systems and mobile agents approaches are presented in a well-balanced way and applied to most important topics in future communication systems. In addition, the volume editors have provided a detailed introductory survey chapter. This book will become a valuable reference information resource for researchers and professionals in agent technology and digital communication. Lecturers, students, and newcomers to the area will benefit from using it for courses or for personal study. Front Matter....Pages I-XIII Future Communication Networks using Software Agents....Pages 1-57 Agents of Change in Future Communication Systems....Pages 58-85 A Multi-Agent System Architecture for Scalable Management of High Performance Networks: Applying Arms Length Autonomy....Pages 86-111 Distributed Intelligent Agents — A Solution for the Management of Complex Telecommunications Services....Pages 112-129 Organization and Coordination for On-Line Routing in Communications Networks....Pages 130-159 Multi-Agent Interactions for a Network Management System (Tele-MACS Approach)....Pages 160-182 Resource Adaptation for a Scalable Agent Society in the MoTiV-PTA Domain....Pages 183-206 Economic Agents for Automated Trading....Pages 207-219 Agent-Oriented Middleware for Integrating Customer Network Services....Pages 221-246 Cooperative Distributed Problem Solving for Communication Network Management....Pages 247-269 Mobile Software Agents for Control in Telecommunications Networks....Pages 270-286 Cooperating Mobile Agents for Dynamic Network Routing....Pages 287-304 Minimal Agents for Communications Network Routing: The Social Insect Paradigm....Pages 305-325 Grasshopper — An Agent Platform for Mobile Agent-Based Services in Fixed and Mobile Telecommunications Environments....Pages 326-357 Mobile Agents for Managing Networks: The MAGENTA Perspective....Pages 358-380 Back Matter....Pages 381-385 Agent technology has recently become one of the most vibrant and fastest growing areas in information technology. And advanced digital communicatiion is a central enabling technology for the coming information society. So software agents and their exploitation for future communication systems are attracting particular attention from the research and development community as well as from economic and user communities interested in everyday private and professional digital communication applications. This monograph-like anthology is the first systematic introduction to software agents and future communication systems. Fifteen coherently written chapters by leading software agent researchers provide complementary coverage of the relevant issues. Multi-agent systems and mobile agent approaches are presented in a well-balanced way and applied to most important topics in future communication systems. In addition, the volume editors have provided a detailed introductory survey chapters. Agent technology has recently become one of the most vibrant and fastest growing areas in information technology. This is the first systematic introduction to software agents with the goal of exploiting them in future communication systems. The coherently written chapters provide complementary coverage of the relevant issues. Multi-agent systems and mobile agent approaches are presented and applied to important topics in future communication systems.
