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

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

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

5. Agents and objects  Depends on the formalism used to define each  Are Java objects agents?  Are Java threads agents?  Objects are typically passive  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

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

7. 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 agent  agents may not always be available  not the same as IIOP  closer to event notification  a method for discovering each other

8. 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

9. 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)www.fipa.org

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

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