Abstract
Over the past several years, many legacy applications have become Web-enabled. A current trend is to Web service-enable legacy applications to allow for XML-based data exchange between a legacy application and a software client that could be hosted in a different framework. This approach enables interoperability between legacy systems and those developed in frameworks of the Web-centric multi-tier architecture that is now prevalent.
For building agile, loosely coupled systems, a proposed architecture is that offered by software agent frameworks. If systems are developed in agent frameworks, there will be architectural interoperability issues with Web-centric systems. One approach to facilitate agent system / Web-centric system interoperability is to utilize Web services as a bridge, with software agents offering Webs services to clients of other frameworks. This approach was investigated via a prototyping effort, which is reported herein. Attention is restricted to software agent frameworks that are compliant with the specifications of the Foundation for Intelligent Physical Agents (FIPA). The focus is on the principled design and performance of agent-based Web services. Recommendations for modifications to FIPA specifications in order to increase support for agent-based Web services are also given.
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Lyell, M. (2004). Agent-Based Web Services for Interoperability with the Web-Centric Enterprise. In: Cavedon, L., Maamar, Z., Martin, D., Benatallah, B. (eds) Extending Web Services Technologies. Multiagent Systems, Artificial Societies, and Simulated Organizations, vol 13. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/0-387-23344-X_5
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