Management of heterogeneous networks with intelligent agents
Andrzej Bieszczad, Pratik K. Biswas, W.J. Buga, Manu Malek, Hai Tao Tan · Bell Labs Technical Journal · 2002
Even as statements about the challenges facing managers of heterogeneous networks seem like cliché, scholars keep giving the emerging problems increasing attention. The unpredictable nature and dynamism of networks require that new means be explored to address the consequent nondeterministic behaviors. The studies conducted thus far in our ongoing work on a Lucent-grown agent platform, the Lucent Intelligent Network Agent (LucINA), and its applications indicate that intelligent agents constitute an attractive technology to address these issues. Agents communicate at a high level of abstraction using an agent communication language (ACL). The language provides a universal wrapper for specific content and a capability to negotiate communication means including language, protocol, and domain terminology (ontology) — a characteristic very desirable in heterogeneous, multivendor environments.