Agent-Oriented Middleware for Integrating Customer Network Services

There are a variety of forces causing previously disparate networks and services to be unified or integrated, including cost-reduction, ease of configuration and ease of maintenance. Communication networks of the future will consist of a wide variety of inter-linked computer networks, giving customers access to a huge range of potentially competing network services. From a customer perspective, the unification and integration of heterogeneous networks means that a service user (or value added service provider) can access any service from anywhere at any time. Examples of how services are coalescing include a diverse range of services from unified messaging services (incorporating FAX, voice-mail, voice and email) to the diversification of services offered by supermarkets.