Agents a message from the Agents Working Group

Agents. . . a message from the Agents Working Group www. obs. com/isig/agents. html

An agent is. . . / an entity that acts / / not an object / / but can be built from objects already busy with its own agenda / / typically on behalf of an owner invoking a method of an agent makes no sense a vehicle for capturing intention / allowing computers take some of the load out of life

Applications / / / Shopping bots, market making Process monitoring, control Business management, workflow / / Contact management / / the active document that makes sure it is fulfilled my friend is in the neighborhood, . . . Brokering higher-order services / A holiday is a package of flights + hotel room +. . .

Agents and objects / Depends on the formalism used to define each / / / Objects are typically passive / / / Are Java objects agents? Are Java threads agents? the server in the client-server relationship method invocation is procedure call Agents are typically active / / the client in the client-server relationship both message send AND message receive are active steps performed by the agent

Agents relate to each other. . . / by exchanging messages / / in terms of a communications language / / the style is closer to inter-process email than RMI typically has a logical semantics by sharing explicitly referenced common ontologies / ontologies themselves need not be explicit

Agents need. . . / a secure persistent global identity / / / to reason across extended interactions to allow people to transact business via agents a method for exchanging messages / / / message receipt is an action performed by the agents may not always be available not the same as IIOP / / closer to event notification a method for discovering each other

Agents and OMG / CORBA represents an opportunity / / deploying scalable agent applications Many agent system will be built on CORBA Current services do not quite meet our needs Contributions: / / / UML for agents Ontology Security

The Agents Working Group / / / Parents are Internet SIG and EC DTF 9 meetings A lot of discussion about what agents are A lot of discussion about how to move forward Green paper about agent technology Strong relationship with FIPA (Foundation for Intelligent Physical Agents www. fipa. org)

Possible RFP roadmap / / / / Agent identity Reliable a. Mail (agent equiv of e-mail) service Agent discovery service Agent Communication Language Content language Ontology Agent trust model NO mobility

Future directions / / Upgrade to Agent Platform SIG (APSIG) Flesh out framework for RFPs / / Education / / A White Paper Within the APSIG Presentation and outreach to other OMG groups Other non-OMG groups Forum for agent issues