Agent Technology for Communications Infrastructure: An Introduction

1.1 Introduction This introductory chapter outlines the increasing need for software support in the design and implementation of the rapidly expanding communications industry and argues that the agent-based computing paradigm is the most promising approach with which to address these issues. Communication systems are expanding both in physical terms, with the exponential growth in internet usage and the mobile phone market, and in the range and complexity of services offered by providers. Recent developments in wireless application programmes (WAP) which are bringing these two technologies closer together only suggest that larger and more sophisticated software systems will be needed to cater for the increasing demand. Approaches that facilitate the design and implementation of these new communication systems are therefore required. Agent-based computing, and in particular research into multi-agent systems, is leading the way in the development of techniques to address the variety of needs associated with these new technologies: languages and protocols which enable autonomous systems to communicate, frameworks for negotiation between self-interested parties, platforms which allow mobile processes to operate at remote sites, and many more. To provide the interested reader with both the background motivation and an introduction to the software agent philosophy, this chapter outlines the reasons underlying the need for more radical approaches to communication systems design (section 1.2) and the agent-based computing paradigm as a design methodology (section 1.3). For readers more familiar with these issues, section 1.4 reflects the authors' views on the current state-of-the-art in agent technology with pointers to recent research results in its application to the communications industry. In section 1.5, we overview the research papers brought