In this paper we propose X-MAQoS, a novel XML-based multi-agent system for the QoS management in telecommunications networks. This system is characterized by the following features: (i) it handles a user profile and exploits it jointly with suitable network resource management techniques to maximize user satisfaction; (ii) it is capable of operating in a large variety of telecommunications networks; (iii) it is semi-automatic; (iv) it exploits XML for guaranteeing a light, versatile and standard mechanism for information representation, storing and exchange. In this paper the basic features of the system are discussed in details. Furthermore, the main results of a performance evaluation study in UMTS environment, aiming at comparing X-MAQoS with alternative agent-based approaches for handling user access to telecommunications networks, are reported.
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