Accent (Advanced Component Control Enhancing Network Technologies) is a comprehensive tool suite that interfaces a variety of communications systems and allows these systems to be controlled through goals (high-level user aims) and policies (lower-level system rules). Accent has been applied to the domains of:
o Call Control: for telecommunications, particularly call control in Internet telephony
o Home Care: for home automation and telecare, particularly for domestic appliances and devices to support home care
o Sensor Networks: sensor networks, particularly managing wind farms
However, the approach is generic and extensible for managing other kinds of systems.
Accent is essentially software. As most of Accent in in Java, it needs at least a Java Runtime Environment but more likely a Java Software Development Kit. To interact with the real world, Accent needs relevant hardware such as a communications server (softswitch) or home automation equipment.