A software agent has a spectrum of definitions. At one end of the scale are relatively simple, client-based software applications that can assist users in performing mundane tasks such as sorting e-mail or downloading web pages. This class of agents is often referred to as “personal assistant” agents. At the other end of the scale is the concept of sophisticated software entities possessing artificial intelligence that autonomously travel through a network environment and make complex decisions on a user's behalf.In telecommunications, the definition lies somewhere between those two extremes. This classification of mobile agents, although not strictly adhering to the definition of “intelligent agents” originally proposed by the artificial intelligence community, is generally acknowledged to be a useful categorization and has started to gain widespread acceptance. We therefore define a mobile agent as a program that acts on behalf of a user or another program and is able to migrate from host to host on a network under its own control. The agent chooses when and where it will migrate and may interrupt its own execution and continue elsewhere on the network. The agent returns results and messages in an asynchronous fashion.This volume discusses the emerging field of mobile software agents and their applications to the area of telecommunications, such as active networks, e-commerce, the Internet, interactive QoS, network management, and feature interactions. It addresses the needs of a wide audience, including researchers, software agent systems and telecommunication applications designers, and users of software agents.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the Third International Workshop on Mobile Agents for Telecommunication Applications, MATA 2001, held in Montreal, Canada in August 2001. The 26 revised full papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected for inclusion in the volume. Among the topics addressed are network management, mobile applications, nomadic computing, feature interaction, Internet applications, QoS managment, policy-based management, interactive multimedia, tele-learning, and computer telephony integration.

Mobile agents are software nomads that act as your personal representative, working autonomously through networks. They are able to visit network nodes directly using available computing power and are not limited by platform. This emerging field is now poised to become a cornerstone for new Web-based ubiquitous computing environments. Mobile Agents provides a practical introduction to mobile agent technology and surveys the state of the art in mobile agent research. Students and researchers can use the book as an introduction to the concepts and possibilities of this field and as an overview of ongoing research. Developers can use it to identify the capabilities of the technology to decide if mobile agents are the right solution for them. Practioners can also gain hands-on experience in programming mobile agents through exploration of the source code for a complete mobile agent environment available through the companion website.*Summarizes the state of the art in mobile agent research*Identifies the benefits and limitations of current mobile agent technology to help developers understand the possibilities of this new field*Extensive mobile agents web portal (www.mobile-agents.org) with the Java source code for a complete industrial-quality environment for mobile agents, with significant parts of the system open source

It is becoming quite clear that there will be important technological advances in - bile and wireless connectivity, known as third-/fourth-generation (3G and 4G) mobile telecommunications systems. As a result we will be surrounded by ever-growing m- tidomain (technical and administrative) heterogeneous communications in both wired and wireless networks. This resulting environment deals with communication in m- tizoned networks, where people, devices, appliances and servers are connected to each other via different kinds of networks. Networks will be pervasive, ubiquitous, multis- vice, multioperatorand multiaccess. The mobility trend will also be spurred forward by the growing availability of mobile-enabled handheld devices. Mobile systems are expected to provide mobile users with cost-effective, secure, yet ubiquitous service access anywhere and anytime. Users will then continue to enjoy the new-found freedom mobile access provides and will have increasingly high exp- tations of mobility-aware applications that should be capable of seamlessly supporting the mobile lifestyle. The papers in this volume discuss issues from models, platforms, and architectures for mobility-aware systems to security, mobile agent technologies, sensitive com- nications, context awareness, mobile applications and management. They cover both practical experience and novel research ideas and concepts.

The beginning of the twenty-first century is characterized by global markets, and the mobility of people is becoming an important fact of life. Consequently, the mobile user is demanding appropriate technical solutions to make use of customized information and communication services. In this context the notion of next-generation networks (NGNs), which are driven by the convergence of the entertainment sector, the mobile Internet, and fixed/mobile telecommunications, is emerging. Such NGNs are aggregating a variety of different access networks and supporting the seamless connection of an open set of end-user devices, and due to the adoption of an all-IP network paradigm they enable a much better integration of voice and data services. Coincidently the buzzword ‘fixed mobile convergence’ (FMC) describes the current trend towards providing common services across fixed and mobile networks resulting in the medium term in the full integration of fixed and mobile telecommunication networks. The adoption of appropriate middleware technologies and the provision of - called service delivery platforms driven by the ongoing innovation in the field of information technologies provides today the technical foundation for supporting terminal, personal and service mobility and thus the implementation of real seamless information and communication services. Furthermore, users are nowadays looking, in light of an omnipresent service environment, for a much higher degree of customization and context awareness in the services they use. The papers in this volume look at these enabling mobility-aware technologies and their use for implementing mobility-aware and context-aware applications.

Mobile technology continues to shape our society, delivering information and knowledge right to our finger tips. It is only fitting that these advancements and opportunities are applied to the area of electronic services. Mobile Opportunities and Applications for E-Service Innovations brings together different perspectives on the understanding of e-service and mobile communication, as well as their effects on the fields of marketing, management, and information systems. The growth of e-services as it relates to business –to-business, business-to-consumer, consumer-to-consumer, are essential to the interests of professionals, academics, and researchers, as well as industry consultants.

Telecommunications has evolved and grown at an explosive rate in recent years and will undoubtedly continue to do so. As its functions, applications, and technology grow, it becomes increasingly complex and difficult, if not impossible, to meet the demands of a global network using conventional computing technologies. Computational intelligence (CI) is the technology of the future-and the future is now. Computational Intelligence in Telecommunications Networks offers an in-depth look at the rapid progress of CI technology and shows its importance in solving the crucial problems of future telecommunications networks. It covers a broad range of topics, from Call Admission Control, congestion control, and QoS-routing for ATM networks, to network design and management, optical, mobile, and active networks, and Intelligent Mobile Agents. Today's telecommunications professionals need a working knowledge of CI to exploit its potential to overcome emerging challenges. The CI community must become acquainted with those challenges to take advantage of the enormous opportunities the telecommunications field offers. This text meets both those needs, clearly, concisely, and with a depth certain to inspire further theoretical and practical advances.