Organisational Structures in Next-Generation Distributed Systems: Towards a Technology of Agreement

Abstract

This article provides a brief overview of the field of coordination in multiagent systems, and outlines its relation to current efforts working towards a paradigm for smart, next-generation distributed systems, where coordination is based on the concept of agreement between computational entities. Two examples are provided to visualize the types of mechanisms that can be part of a ¿technology of agreement¿. They explain how techniques from the field of organisations can be used to further coordination and agreement in open multiagent systems. This approach requires autonomy of the coordinated systems and their constituting agents, implying also the need for eventual reorganization and self-adaptation ¿ hence the article presents also an architectural strategy to tackle the inherent dynamism in these features.