Distributed computing

Abstract

According to one embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a method of establishing a communication path between a plurality of software elements in a distributed computing system, the elements being operable for communicating using a first communication mode, and wherein at least some of the software elements are also operable for communicating using a second communication mode. The method may comprise a first software element discovering a second software element, entering an initiation phase between the first and the second software element using the first communication mode and determining, during the initiation phase, whether the first and second software element may communicate using more than one communication mode, and where it is so determined, determining a preferred communication mode based on a predetermined communication characteristic. A communication may then be established using the determined preferred communication mode.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.