Ambient Intelligence is an emerging research field that aims to make many of the everyday activities of people easier and more efficient. This new paradigm gives rise to opportunities for novel, more efficient interactions with computing systems. At a technical level, the vision of Ambient Intelligence is realized by the seamless confluence of diverse computing platforms. In this context, a software framework (middleware) is essential to enable heterogeneous computing systems to interoperate. In this paper we first consider the basic requirements of a middleware that can effectively support the construction of Ambient Intelligence environments. Subsequently, we present a brief survey of existing, general-purpose middleware systems and evaluate them in terms of their suitability for serving as the low-level communication platform of an Ambient Intelligence middleware. Finally, we argue that an Object-Oriented middleware such as the Common Request Broker Architecture (CORBA) is most suited for basing a middleware for Ambient Intelligence environments.
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