Flexile Middleware: Responding to Operational Demands of Critical Network-Based Applications

The best sources of critical network-based applications are operations that require ad hoc network formation, interoperability among a wide variety of node capabilities, real-time or near real-time responsiveness, high bandwidth data dissemination, quality of service, and execution of network applications that may have an impact on human life or other effect deemed critical by human society. This paper will discuss how these network-based operational applications are driving the need for autonomic (or self-managing) middleware. A new concept, called flexile middleware, will be introduced as an approach to address this emerging need.