Sinead Cummins, Alan Davy, Jason Finnegan, Ray Carroll

State of the Art: Middleware in Smart Space Management

Ubiquitous computing, and specifically Smart Spaces, is an emerging paradigm for interactions between people and computers. Its aim is to break away from desktop computing to provide computational services to a user when and where required. Large numbers of heterogeneous computing devices provide new functionality, enhance user productivity, and ease everyday tasks. In home, office, and public spaces, ubiquitous computing will unobtrusively augment work or recreational activities with information technology that optimizes the environment for people’s needs (Manuel Román et al, 2002). The aim of the M-Zones program is to do novel research into the management concerns connected to such spaces.

The rationale behind this paper is to review the existence (or lack) of a suitable middleware infrastructure for the development and management of applications and services in ubiquitous computing environments. This paper will present current practice in middleware infrastructure, analyse the requirements of a ubiquitous computing environment, and draw conclusions as to its relevance to the M-Zones project and future research required.

This paper will begin by giving an overview of current middleware practices, analysing the requirements of a ubiquitous computing environment, and drawing conclusions as to its relevance to M-Zones. It will then proceed to look at specific aspects of middleware such as service creation (OSA/Parlay), networking architectures (Jini) and management using agentbased technology.

Keywords: Smart Spaces, Middleware, Jini, Agents, Parlay, Service Creation Environments, Application Servers