Supporting adaptation-aware services through the virtual home environment

This article focuses on the service management aspects of Virtual Home Environment (VHE) -like middleware for context-aware, adaptable services. We present a functional architecture which is in line with the on-going VHE standardization efforts. We also describe our prototype implementation developed in the context of the IST VESPER project with particular emphasis on the realization of functionality for context-handling and adaptation triggering. Our system is illustrated through a case study, which allows us to highlight the advantages of a middleware-based solution that decouples the adaptation logic from the application and network layers. An important part of our study looks into how our system may be realized outside a laboratory environment, considering two alternative scenarios. First, we consider the case in which the VHE service management logic resides within the Network Operator boundaries. Then we elaborate on an alternative scenario in which service management is achieved outside of the Network Operator, relying on an increased level of network openness not yet available today.