An agent framework in service oriented environment

The multi-faceted nature of communication technologies and information management has demanded that supporting systems be highly cohesive and yet loosely coupled. It calls for the systems to be efficiently integrated, interoperable and highly adaptable to the ever-changing operating landscape. Interoperability among systems becomes difficult, though the emergence of service oriented technologies had provided some form of reprieve. In today's rapidly changing environment, applications such as healthcare applications need to be highly adaptable and versatile. Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) becomes more and more important. The goal-oriented nature of agent, coupled with highly configurable agent actions, makes it very suitable for implementing such systems. In this research, an agent framework is designed and implemented to cater for the applications of agents in service oriented environment. J2EE technology is used for its implementation so as to enable the service oriented nature of the agent. This paper first discusses several design considerations. Then the agents are developed and incorporated using the proposed agent framework.