In mobile computing and context awareness in mobile ad-hoc networks, node connectivity is unpredictably time-varying. A middleware entity solves the problem of automatically executing a user-defined set of actions, collected in a user profile, upon detection of events such as an attachment of a mobile terminal to the ad-hoc network, changes of the underlying network topology, the moving of mobile terminals into the physical proximity of further mobile terminals, the presence of services and/or of users within the network, and a detachment of a mobile terminal from the ad-hoc network. Thereby, the actions are invocations of services hosted on the mobile terminal or other mobile terminals interconnected via the ad-hoc network. The aforementioned profiles are stored on mobile terminals (e.g. PDAs, mobile phones, etc.) or on fixed or mobile customer-edge devices such as television sets, home gateways, etc. Also envisioned is the deployment of a distributed database holding the profiles.