IoT Applications: From Mobile Agents to Microservices Architecture

Internet of Things (IoT) is still grabbing the attention of researchers, developers, and organizations. This is due to the rapid increase of connected devices and the major advances seen in information and communication technologies every day. IoT refers to the network of interactive physical and virtual devices connected globally which includes smartphones, sensors, and robots. IoT devices require software adaptation as they are in continuous transition. Mobile Agents can offer adaptable composition for IoT systems. Mobile agents can be used to enable interoperability and global intelligence with smart objects in the Internet of Things. However, mobile agents come with many security concerns in which security protocols can be relatively heavy for IoT devices to handle. As a response, microservice architecture emerged and quickly became a widely used solution. The aim of this architecture is to break the application into a set of smaller independent services. It also allows developers and organizations to have the ability for frequent updates on their services. Studies in the last year showed a massive interest in microservice architectures in the context of IoT and cloud computing solutions. This paper offers a review of how microservices can replace mobile agents and be able to act as agents in IoT systems and highlight the benefits that can be obtained from this solution.