Bruce Gruenbaum:
The Context Management Service is designed to keep track of data that is needed to reestablish a logical session's context on subsequent interactions with a target. People will argue whether context should be stored on the client or the server or both. In my experience, a framework has to provide support for all three options - client, server and both. If one views a set of interactions with a set of targets as a set conversations, context management is about determining where you last left off in the conversation with a specific target.
Thomas Mercer-Hursh:
Or, in the case of AppServer agents, being able to continue the conversation even though you weren't the one who had the last exchange.
Bruce Gruenbaum:
Session management is about reducing the amount of time it takes to determine which target you are talking to.
Thomas Mercer-Hursh:
Agree that one needs all three. One of the interesting twists is supporting a uniform context management solution across multiple client types.
Initial content adapted from an Exchange on the PEG