Agents Conference, November 95, London, England
ted <ted@unicom.demon.co.uk>
Date: Fri, 18 Aug 1995 08:57:26 GMT
From: ted <ted@unicom.demon.co.uk>
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Subject: Agents Conference, November 95, London, England
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INTELLIGENT AGENTS AND THEIR BUSINESS APPLICATIONS
8-9 NOVEMBER, LONDON
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES
An Intelligent Software agent is a software component which acts to accomplish
certain tasks on behalf of its user. Many agents are based on the idea that the
user need only specify a high-level goal instead of issuing explicit
instructions, leaving the 'how' and 'when' decisions to the agent.
There has always been an interest in having an agent to do routine tasks for
people. The move to PCs resulted in an increase in the volume of latent
computing power. This potential now allows for the development of software
agents to perform a multitude of tasks. Agents can be used to monitor
information, looking for trends based on mathematical rules. This could be used
for checking stock levels for inventory control planning or providing
opportunity advice through tracking share prices. Agents can also be used in a
more active role to seek out information for the user. This is becoming an
invaluable service, given the increasing amount of information available and the
growth of the Internet as an information provider.
The important questions that need to be addressed are:
What kind of tasks will agents perform?
Will the agents' service be problem-free?
Will agents create solutions or problems?
Who will teach the agents?
Can the agents be taught to use common sense?
How will agents enhance human performance?
This event provides an overview of agent technology and focuses on the
information gathering and management aspect of agent-based systems. It is
presented by experts who are actually researching this new revolutionary
technology, suppliers of agent-based software products, as well as informed end
users, all of whom have important knowledge, information and experiences to
share. Once people attending have had the chance to come into contact with the
tremendous potentials of agent software technology, they will be able to assess
the impact the introduction of such a powerful software tool will have on the
efficiency and effectiveness of their own organisation.
WHO SHOULD ATTEND
IT Managers and Directors
Software developers in the fields of:
-desktop access to corporate networks
-enterprise information systems
-OLAP and EIS applications
-management of distributed systems
-messaging and communications
-information access (Internet/local databases)
Researchers considering implementing agent software in new application areas
Communications managers
Developers who wish to embed intelligent agents in existing applications
PROGRAMME
8 November Day One
SESSION ONE (morning)
Introductory Tutorial Offering an Overview of Agent Theories, Applications,
Languages and Architectures.
Dr. Nick Jennings, Queen Mary and Westfield College
Dr. Mike Wooldridge, Manchester Metropolitan University
SESSION TWO (afternoon)
Focus on the main developments in agent technology and their performance in the
market
Agents that Reduce Work and Information Overload.
Pattie Maes, MIT Media Lab, USA.
The "information highway" presents us with an explosion of new computer-based
tasks and services. The complexity of this new environment demands a new style
of human-computer interaction where the computer becomes an intelligent, active
and personalised collaborator using agent software.
A novel approach to building software agents - the agent acquires its competence
by learning from the user, as well as from agents assisting other users with
similar tasks.
Prototype agents built using this approach include agents that provide personal
assistance with meeting scheduling, electronic mail handling, electronic news
filtering, selection of entertainment items, WWW document filtering and interest
group formation.
Vendors of Agent Technology
Christine Guilfoyle, The Trefoyle Partnership
Who is selling products and services using intelligent agents
What groups of vendors should be active
What has happened in the last year
How will intelligent agents affect IT and communications suppliers
Day two
SESSION ONE (morning)
Managing Information Using Agents
Intelligent Agents and the Information Revolution
Professor Katia Sykara, Carneggie Mellon University
Intelligent Agents to solve problems of locating information sources, accessing,
filtering and integrating information to support decision-making.
Overview of Agents uses and applications.
Overview of Agents research literature.
The issues involved in designing multiple intelligent agents that coordinate and
learn from eachother in order to support information gathering and information.
Examples from Organisational decision-making, health care, electronic commerce
and financial management.
The Use of Agents in Information Brokering Systems
Jerry Foss, GPT
Information trading environments - scenarios for the future evolution of
information networks.
Information models, Broker/Agent service hierarchies.
Information Brokering Services - including brokering functions, Information
Rights and Revenues.
The anatomy of a broker, including on-line integration of service elements using
agent retrieval.
Agents for Pro-active marketing, for Information Brokering Services.
Applications of Intelligent Agents
Betty Atkinson, IBM USA
Types of Intelligent Agents
Users of Intelligent Agents
IBM's work with Object Management Group on Agent-related standards
Applications of Intelligent Agents
SESSION TWO (afternoon)
Agents in the Telecommunications Industry
Intelligent agents managing novel services in Integrated Fixed-Mobile Networks
Marius Busuioc , BRITISH TELECOM Laboratories
Benefits of distributed intelligent agents
The application platform
Demonstrator design
Agent types
Scenarios and services
Agents in Network Environments
Michel Plu, FRANCE TELECOM/CNET
Agents as a new way to think about software
Agents communication language for distributed resources management
Conceptual agents for an Enterprise viewpoint of open distributed processing
systems
Mobile agent: an attractive and useful metaphor for smart network services
Agent-related research projects at FRANCE TELECOM/CNET
Agent Applications to provide the business edge
Derek Wordley, Mercury Communications
Business edge will come from the successful acquisition and analysis of
information
Telecommunications companies will seek to add value to their offerings to
support their customers in this area.
Intelligent agents provide powerful tools to:
-search for and acquire data
-carry out analysis
-act accordingly without continuous user intervention
Enquiries contact below
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* No sky in the world is as blue as the Greek sky...*
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* UNICOM Seminars *
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