Extensible Java EE-Based Agent Framework – Past, Present, Future

EXtensible

Java

EE

 − 

based

Agent

Framework

(

XJAF

) is a modular,

FIPA

-compliant multi-agent system developed by the authors of this chapter. The main motivation behind the development of

XJAF

was to demonstrate how existing, standardized Java EE technologies, tools, and libraries, such as

JNDI

,

JMS

, and

EJB

, can be used to implement a large subset of functionalities required from a multi-agent system. Immediate direct benefits of this approach are shorter development time of the system itself, delegation of agent load-balancing to the enterprise server, flatter learning curve for new developers of the system, etc. The first implementation of

XJAF

has been published several years ago and has since been used in several real-life applications. In the meantime, some disadvantages and weaknesses of the system were noticed, and the work is underway to provide a new implementation with an improved quality. The most recent focus of improvements has been on the addition of fault-tolerant techniques, and the increase of interoperability through a

SOA

-based design and web service interfaces.