SS.7 as an Agent Platform Message Transport Protocol

FIPA has provided a standardised model for implementing interoperable agent systems that may prove the basis for new solutions to the problem of managing the growing complexity of the telecommunications infrastructure. However, the ability of agents to operate in the telecommunications domain would be greatly enhanced if the FIPA architecture was refined to deal with the standardised SS.7 communications protocol suite almost universally used for the control of telecommunications networks. The current FIPA model is TCP/IP centred, thus in order to use the SS.7 infrastructure a mapping from FIPA message transport requirements to SS.7 protocol transport capabilities must be performed. A protocol for the distribution of FIPA ACL messages in SS.7 networks must also be defined. Analysis of the possibilities shows that there are different design choices depending upon the exact deployment model and agent capabilities required. In addition it is necessary to allow the use of SS.7 addresses within the FIPA management protocols. An evaluation of best common practice for CORBAbased FIPA implementations in the SS.7 domain must also be defined. This treatment highlights the failings of the current FIPA model when applied to the real-time, bandwidth-constrained, specialised protocol environment of telecommunications signalling.