Software engineering and middleware: a roadmap (Invited talk)

The construction of a large class of distributed systems can be simplified by leveraging middleware, which is layered between network operating systems and application components. Middleware resolves heterogeneity and facilitates communication and coordination of distributed components. Existing middleware products enable software engineers to build systems that are distributed across a local-area network. State-of-the-art middleware research aims to push this boundary towards Internet-scale distribution, adaptive and reconfigurable middleware and middleware for dependable and wireless systems. The challenge for software engineering research is to devise notations, techniques, methods and tools for distributed system construction that systematically build and exploit the capabilities that middleware deliver

Analysis of current middleware used in peer-to-peer and grid implementations for enhancement by catallactic mechanisms

This deliverable describes the work done in task 3.1, Middleware analysis: Analysis of current middleware used in peer-to-peer and grid implementations for enhancement by catallactic mechanisms from work package 3, Middleware Implementation. The document is divided in four parts: The introduction with application scenarios and middleware requirements, Catnets middleware architecture, evaluation of existing middleware toolkits, and conclusions. -- Die Arbeit definiert Anforderungen an Grid und Peer-to-Peer Middleware Architekturen und analysiert diese auf ihre Eignung für die prototypische Umsetzung der Katallaxie. Eine Middleware-Architektur für die Umsetzung der Katallaxie in Application Layer Netzwerken wird vorgestellt.Grid Computing

QoS Provisioning in CORBA by Introducing a Reflective Aspect-Oriented Transport Layer

Commercially available middleware systems today offer best-effort Quality-of-Service (QoS) to the application programs. Due to the natural limitation of resources and the differences between the priorities and demands of applications, middleware systems must have the capability to offer varying degrees of QoS. The QoS requirements of middleware applications can be monitored and fulfilled by configuring the middleware. This could be implemented, for example, by encapsulating the specific QoS concerns of middleware within the components and by installing the most suitable component on a particular QoS demand. Unfortunately, not all the QoS concerns of a distributed system can be defined and encapsulated by the interfaces of components. So-called crosscutting aspects hinder the adaptation of middleware systems since the implementations of QoS support techniques cannot be restricted to the implementations of components. We propose a reflective and aspect-oriented technique based on the principle of Composition-Filters to address this problem

A QoS-Control Architecture for Object Middleware

This paper presents an architecture for QoS-aware middleware platforms. We present a general framework for control, and specialise this framework for QoS provisioning in the middleware context. We identify different alternatives for control, and we elaborate the technical issues related to controlling the internal characteristics of object middleware. We illustrate our QoS control approach by means of a scenario based on CORBA

Requirements of a middleware for managing a large, heterogeneous programmable network

Programmable networking is an increasingly popular area of research in both industry and academia. Although most programmable network research projects seem to focus on the router architecture rather than on issues relating to the management of programmable networks, there are numerous research groups that have incorporated management middleware into the programmable network router software. However, none seem to be concerned with the effective management of a large heterogeneous programmable network. The requirements of such a middleware are outlined in this paper. There are a number of fundamental middleware principles that are addressed in this paper; these include management paradigms, configuration delivery, scalability and transactions. Security, fault tolerance and usability are also examined—although these are not essential parts of the middleware, they must be addressed if the programmable network management middleware is to be accepted by industry and adopted by other research projects

A component-based middleware framework for configurable and reconfigurable Grid computing

Significant progress has been made in the design and development of Grid middleware which, in its present form, is founded on Web services technologies. However, we argue that present-day Grid middleware is severely limited in supporting projected next-generation applications which will involve pervasive and heterogeneous networked infrastructures, and advanced services such as collaborative distributed visualization. In this paper we discuss a new Grid middleware framework that features (i) support for advanced network services based on the novel concept of pluggable overlay networks, (ii) an architectural framework for constructing bespoke Grid middleware platforms in terms of 'middleware domains' such as extensible interaction types and resource discovery. We believe that such features will become increasingly essential with the emergence of next-generation e-Science applications. Copyright (c) 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

Software system integration - Middleware - an overview

The integration of different softwares written in different language and based on different platforms can be tricky. In that situation a middleware is necessary to enable the communication between different softwares. The middleware enables the software system not only to share data but also share the services. This paper gives an overview of some of middleware technologies which can be used to integrate different software systems

Middleware for mobile computing: awareness vs. transparency (position summary)

Middleware solutions for wired distributed systems cannot be used in a mobile setting, as mobile applications impose new requirements that run counter to the principle of transparency on which current middleware systems have been built. We propose the use of reflection capabilities and meta-data to pave the way for a new generation of middleware platforms designed to support mobility