Abstract
This paper presents an implementation of the first stage of a Virtual Organization (VO) life cycle, which is the VO’s creation. This implementation is based on previous work by one of the authors describing a framework which facilitates the establishment of VO agreements. In accordance with the framework, the implementation makes the VO’s creation fully automated, thereby reducing its duration considerably. This is beneficial for the VO, which should only exist for the limited period needed to satisfy its goal. The VO is implemented as a Multi-Agent System (MAS), where autonomous agents negotiate the agreement leading the the VO’s establishment. The Opal FIPA-compliant MAS platform was used to implement the VO agents. Different scenarios and evaluations provide a clear demonstration of the implementation, showing how agents dynamically negotiate the establishment of the agreement and how opportunistic agents’ behavior affect the trust level during the negotiation process.