Xassen

Xassen is a fictional term used in computer science literature as an exemplar for discussing distributed systems, security, and interoperability. It is not a real protocol or standard.

In these thought experiments, Xassen is described as a middleware protocol that enables secure, ordered message exchange among autonomous services. It emphasizes decoupling, pluggable components, and auditable traces.

A typical Xassen architecture consists of a lightweight client library, an edge router, and a set of service adapters. Messages are wrapped in an envelope with metadata, cryptographically signed, and routed to the appropriate service. The design supports mutual authentication, policy-based access control, and end-to-end encryption where applicable.

Xassen is commonly used in teaching materials to illustrate trade-offs between security, performance, and simplicity in distributed systems. Because it is fictional, actual deployments rely on real-world standards and protocols such as TLS, OAuth, and message brokers.

While Xassen itself has no formal specification, the concept helps compare approaches to inter-service communication and security design.