A KQML-CORBA based architecture for intelligent agents communication in cooperative service and network management

Networks and Services management solutions are now moving from centralised platforms to distributed approaches. In order to reach a higher level of scalability and flexibility, an attractive solution can be based on cooperative intelligent agents. This raises new requirements for communication between management entities, as it implies not only exchange of pure management information but also exchange of cooperation messages or code. After analysing these communication requirements, this paper outlines the need for a communication language able to support all the types of interaction between the agents. As a candidate, KQML is then presented. Its powerful semantic characteristics made us believe it is a suitable support for the communication between management intelligent agents. An implementation of KQML on CORBA leads to define a complete communication layer architecture that can support cooperation in a multi-agents management platform.