by Ho, L. Lawrence

DOI: 10.1023/A:1009442529225
Print publication date: 9/1/2000
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by

DOI: 10.1023/A:1017241225591
Print publication date: 9/1/2000
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by Zuckerman, Douglas N.; Hong, James W.; Weihmayer, Robert

DOI: 10.1023/A:1009490406180
Print publication date: 9/1/2000
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by Amer, Magdi; Karmouch, Ahmed; Gray, Tom; Mankovskii, Serge

Most telecommunication service providers resolve the feature interaction problem by providing specific instructions in their management software to handle scenarios where feature interaction may occur. This approach suffers from the complexity of the resulting code and the difficulty of adding new features to the system. Moreover, the system predefines the result of the resolution of the conflicting features and the end user has no means of choosing a different behavior, depending on the preferences of the user. In this paper we propose an agent-based architecture to detect and resolve feature interactions. Our system benefits from the flexibility and the semantic richness of policies and fuzzy logic to allow the end user to alter the behavior of the system, thus obtaining a more personalized service.

DOI: 10.1023/A:1009438422110
Print publication date: 9/1/2000
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by Patel, A.; Prouskas, K.; Barria, J.; Pitt, J.

Intelligent Networks (IN) are used in telecommunication networks to provide services that require a decision-making network element. The Service Control Point (SCP) can be overloaded when the number of service requests exceeds the SCPs designed capacity. Traditional IN load control algorithms assume a single service network model or use a centralized controller to find a solution. In this paper we propose and investigate a market-based model, in the form of a computational economy, for solving the distributed IN load control problem for a multi-service network. We investigate two algorithms, one price-oriented and the other resource-oriented, for finding the competitive equilibrium for this economy. We conclude that the price-oriented approach generally performs better and allows a greater level of distributed-decision making but suffers from an infeasible solution in real-time systems. Furthermore, we study a realization of this model as a multi-agent system (MAS) and investigate the communication overhead associated with running auctions for services.

DOI: 10.1023/A:1009486305272
Print publication date: 9/1/2000
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by Vayias, E.; Soldatos, J.; Bigham, J.; Cuthbert, L.; Luo, Z.

This paper presents the architecture and implementation of a distributed multi-agent system designed to provide flexible control and efficient resource management of a communications network. The system architecture enables different service providers and the network provider to use different control algorithms on the same logically partitioned physical infrastructure. All the mechanisms have been implemented and successfully tested on real experimental telecommunications networks. The system components are first described and then results from experiments and performance issues are discussed. The problem of interfacing a multi-agent system to network devices is then discussed. Interfacing agents with the network requires some form of programmable interface, since it is necessary, for example, to override conventional ATM signaling. At the moment programmable network device interfaces are not always available, particularly in commercially available devices and, thus, generic operations using management protocols have to be used. A generic architecture for embedding custom network control functionality into ATM networks is described.

DOI: 10.1023/A:1009434321202
Print publication date: 9/1/2000
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by Cheikhrouhou, Morsy M.; Conti, Pierre; Marcus, Karina; Labetoulle, Jacques

Current Network Management paradigms are rigid and lack flexibility. This makes the task of managing a highly evolving and dynamic network difficult to cope with. This paper presents the results of our work on Agent technology as a new paradigm for developing Network Management applications. First, we present our agent architecture that is built in a way that allows the agent to acquire new capabilities at runtime. Second, we present two case studies implemented with a prototype of this agent architecture. The first case study consists of an agent system in which faulty agents are automatically detected, their tasks then being reallocated to other agents, thus providing a fault-tolerant management system. The second case study deals with the configuration of heterogeneous ATM networks to establish end-to-end permanent virtual channels. Finally, we evaluate our agent architecture and the agent paradigm in general when applied to Network Management.

DOI: 10.1023/A:1009482204363
Print publication date: 9/1/2000
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by Hayzelden, A. L. G.; Bigham, J.; Poslad, S. J.; Buckle, P.; Mamdani, E. H.

The application of software agent technology to the management of communications’ infrastructures is a challenging domain as it requires management on different time scales and has many interacting components. This paper looks at the potential benefits that may be gained from the application of agent technology to communications systems and surveys recent developments. Recent work using distributed network management by adopting co-operating and self-interested agent models of collaboration are described. The paper provides an introduction to the authors’ perceptions of agent technology, followed by a discussion of some issues that need to be addressed for agent technology to be of practical use in the communications domain. Following sections describe how agent technology has been used for network management, legacy telecommunications systems, and telecommunications integration. The authors discuss how the emerging standards for agent technology can be used in an applied situation of providing a virtual private network and mobile agent technology used for fully distributed network control.

DOI: 10.1023/A:1009430220293
Print publication date: 9/1/2000
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by Magedanz, Thomas

DOI: 10.1023/A:1009478003455
Print publication date: 9/1/2000
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by Bernstein, Lawrence; Yuhas, C. M.

DOI: 10.1023/A:1009417719384
Print publication date: 9/1/2000
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