A Brief Introduction to Software Agent Technology

Abstract

Software agent technology is a rapidly developing area of research. Application domains in which agent solutions are being applied or researched into include workflow management, telecommunications network management, air traffic control, business process re-engineering, data mining, information retrieval/management, electronic commerce, education, personal digital assistants (PDAs), e-mail filtering, digital libraries, command and control, smart databases, and scheduling/ diary management. Indeed, as Guilfoyle (1995) notes:in 10 years time most new IT development will be affected, and many consumer products will contain embedded agent-based systems.