Distributed coordination models for client/server computing

A major limitation in the basic client/server model is its focus on clients requesting individual services. Clients often need to invoke multiple services, coordinated to reflect how those services interrelate and contribute to the overall application. Important examples include task allocation and event notification in collaborative workgroup systems, and task sequencing and routing in workflow applications. Failure to address control requirements for such interactions has impeded development of uniform methods and tools for building many types of distributed systems with client/server architectures. The article identifies and examines extensions to the basic client/server model that provide explicit support for coordinating multiserver interactions