On MAS Scalability

In open dynamic multi-agent environments the number of agents can vary significantly within very short periods of time. Very few (if any) current multi-agent systems have, however, been designed to cope with large-scale distributed applications. Scalability requires increasing numbers of new agents and resources to have no noticeable effect on performance nor to increase administrative complexity. In this paper a number of implications for techniques and management are discussed. Current research on agent middleware is briefly described.

The Globe Infrastructure Directory Service

To implement adaptive replication strategies for Web documents, we have developed a wide area resource management system. This system allows servers to be managed on a local and global level. On a local level the system manages information about the resources and services provided by the servers, while on a global level the system allows servers to be searched for, added to, and removed from the system. As part of the system, and also in order to implement adaptive replication strategies, we introduce a hierarchical location representation for network elements such as servers, objects, and clients. This location representation allows us to easily and efficiently find and group network elements based on their location in a worldwide network. Our resource management system can be implemented using standard Internet technologies and has a broader range of applications besides making adaptive replication strategies possible for Web documents