Using integration frameworks for developing context-aware applications

Research on developing context-aware applications faces the challenge of collecting, integrating and combining information in a wide range of formats from a variety of sources, such as desktop applications, web services, user profiles and databases. On the other hand, the need for pervasive real-time application integration has boosted the development of Integration Platforms in enterprise environments. These platforms provide an infrastructure of services that enable dozens of applications spread around the organization to recognize and respond to the presence of information. In this paper we propose that integration frameworks can be used to facilitate the development of context-aware applications. As a proof of concept, we developed a simple context-aware application that works on top of a well-known integration framework.