WHAT IS IT AND WHY DO WE CARE
James Odell, Csc Papers · 2011
Providing an intelligent, bottom-up and distributed approach, agent technology is enabling companies to dynamically manage complex resources and respond rapidly to today’s constant changes. With individuals, groups, companies and agencies interacting on a global scale, agents are a key ingredient in CSC’s globalization of IT. Centralizing a corporation was once considered an efficient way to run an enterprise. Decisions and information processing occurred in an orderly, top-down, hierarchical manner. However, it is now clear that this type of system only works in a reasonably stable market. Globalization and changes in technology are causing today’s market to be in a state of constant flux. Companies that cannot adapt fast enough to thrive in new markets will be left behind. In response, many companies are now building agentbased systems. These systems employ agents that distribute functionality across vast computing networks. Furthermore, agents not only adapt to their environment but also evolve by learning from the environment. Agents employ a variety of computational approaches; including anything from object orientation (OO) to expert systems, neural networks, and genetic algorithms. An agent-based approach prepares enterprises (managers and practitioners) for an increasingly complex marketplace and enables them to respond rapidly to change. This paper provides an overview of what an agent is, how it works, and how it adds value to, and in combination with, other technologies. The paper also illustrates how agent technology is used in the industry, e.g., applied to applications for supply chain, shop-floor control, resource management, logistics, complex event processing, energy sustainability, SOA, grid and cloud computing, command and control, sense and respond, and self-healing middleware. Companies such as IBM, TIBCO, and HP are incorporating agent technology—enabling them to dynamically manage complex resources required by their customers. DHL found that it’s pricing and tracking applications could be developed 50-80% faster using agent technology with time-to-market reduced and ROI increased.