Aspectix: A Quality-Aware, Object-Based Middleware Architecture

Quality of service is becoming more and more important in distributed systems. Current middleware systems lack quality-of-service support on the application and on the system level. AspectIX is a CORBA-compliant middleware platform that defines generic interfaces to control quality-of-service and an infrastructure for quality implementations. AspectIX is based on a fragmented object model that can provide transparent client-side quality implementations. Quality implementations can be weaved into functional fragments using a hierarchy of Weavelets which are modular code-transforming software components. A distributed policy decision engine allows administrators to influence object-internal decisions, e.g., decisions about how to implement the current quality-of-service requirements.