CREAM:: An infrastructure for distributed, heterogeneous event-based applications

Applications ranging from event-based supply chain management to enterprise application integration and pervasive computing depend on the timely detection and notification of events. We present CREAM the event-based reactive component of the DREAM middleware platform. Here we address four key issues in distributed and heterogeneous environments: event detection and notification, event composition, an active functionality service, and ontology support. We show the need for ontology support at all levels in heterogeneous environments and present a distributed active functionality service that addresses the difficult issues of event composition in widely distributed environments. We illustrate the practicality of the proposed approach through two prototypes that are based on this infrastructure: a meta-auction service and a personalized service offering in Internet-enabled vehicles.