The basic idea in implementing TENT was to develop a component-based application integration framework that lets the user concentrate on putting together workflows and solving actual problems, instead of having to focus on the technical details of distributed computing. To accomplish this, we developed and implemented a component model that allows the assembly of applications (integrated into components) into workflows, as flexibly and error-tolerant as possible. This model also handles tasks like starting the applications and data transfer.
The component architecture of TENT is based on the Java component model (similar to the JavaBeans), modified and extended for distributed use with CORBA.
The TENT system consists of several software packets, each with the associated components or tools. The actual TENT application systems are assembled based on these software packets. Each application system contains all necessary components and all necessary configurations for the computer and system environment where TENT is installed.