Abstract: The flexible service application components (“FSACs”) of the present invention enable services to be defined by logic and data, as well as other functions, such as operations, administration, and management. The flexible service application components of the present invention enable a service designer (and/or other entity) the ability to create an integrated component that represents a service feature. Thus, a FSAC may be developed to encapsulate protocol-specific interactions and present a homogenous interface to a feature FSAC. Hence, the present invention enables application-level FSACs that may be protocol-independent.

Abstract: A system and method for managing dependencies in a component-based system. The process includes defining a resource that is part of an entity, recording a resource specifier for the resource, and recording resource dependency relationships definitions for the resource. The resource and its dependency relationships may the be deployed to a system. The deployment may include verifying the existence of all dependency relationship resources of the resource on the system and transmitting a warning if any of the dependencies of the are unsatisfied. The deployment may also include creating an abstract resource if the abstract resource recorded as a dependency is not found on the system to which the resource is being deployed. The abstract resource may be created based on the dependency relationship definition of the abstract resource. If any dependency relationship is unsatisfied, and deployment can not be completed without the dependency, deployment may be ended.

Abstract: The present invention provides more flexible engineering of network computing resources based on the actual needs of the customer, the resource requirements of the service and other relevant factors. The present invention relates to efficient use of network resources. By having the option of placing a particular function within a service on a node where it naturally fits according to its functional couplings, the inter-node communication may be reduced. As a result, the overall processing costs of the service may be minimized and efficiencies are enhanced.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a method and system for enabling resources to be defined, tracked, verified, resolved and managed both statically and dynamically. Resource management may be performed explicitly and consistently throughout a system, regardless of resource type. When a resource is defined, the resource may be assigned a unique specifier which may include a resource ID, type ID, version ID and/or other identifier. This information may be stored in a centralized repository, preventing redundant definitions of similar resources. Software or other applications may request (or require) access to a resource from a resource manager, regardless of resource type, retrieval mechanism or location.