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Distributed Computing & Software Agents Research

Distributed Computing & Software Agents Research Centre
University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand

Software agents are used both for modelling complex interactive systems and for providing robust services in an open, distributed environment. See the Agents page for basic information about what software agents are.

The Otago Distributed Computing & Software Agents Research Centre, a member of the Foundation for Intelligent Physical Agents (FIPA), is engaged in research and development of advanced technology covering a range of practical techniques and applications in this area. These include

Distriburted computing platforms and infrastructure
Agent architectures and communication
Distributed interactive architectures
Ontology representation and usage
Agent interaction protocols, institutions, and policies

Distributed information system applications
Peer-to-peer and Grid applications
Mobile, location-aware computing
Wireless applications
Situated agents and robotics

Information about available software developed at Otago DC

The University of Otago is

New Zealand's Top University
Sun Microsystems Centre of Excellence: University of Otago is the first university outside of the United States to be selected as a Sun Microsystems OpenSPARC Centre of Excellence.

International PhD fees lowered!
University fees for international PhD students are now the same as domestic fee levels: from 1 January 2006, any new international PhD student will be accorded domestic status for purposes of tuition fees. The fee policy also allows the children of all international PhD students to attend school without paying international student fees.

For further information about the research centre, please contact Professor Martin Purvis or Associate Professor Stephen Cranefield.