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agents. Intelligent agent technology offers a very powerful and suitable mean to
integrate the Internet in a synergistic way. Intelligent agents can be personalized for
each individual to perform tasks 24 hrs a day. The tasks may range from simple
stimulus-response to complex deliberative decisions. For example, intelligent agents
can provide support for making purchasing decisions for customers as well as for
companies. These agents are goal-driven, capable of planning, and reasoning under
uncertainty with imprecise and incomplete information, and learning. The software
core of the intelligent agent may incorporate fuzzy logic and other soft-computing
techniques. Intelligent agents can provide assistance and inform all phases the
purchase decision from information gathering to generation of alternatives to making
a choice. Mobile agents are a special type of intelligent agent that can find information
for such activities as brokering, negotiation and payment. Mobile agents can roam
wide area networks, interact with foreign hosts, perform tasks on behalf of their users
and subsequently return to the original computer after achieving the goals. Mobile
intelligent agents raise concerns in such areas as security, export controls, legal
jurisdiction, taxation and international issues that need to be addressed.
In the long-run, the Internet economy and the old economy will converge giving rise
to more innovative and productive businesses capable of competing in the global
arena. Organizations will learn how to build and successfully deploy quality e-
commerce systems. New technologies will enable more powerful systems that
support new business models. In particular, in spite of all the challenges, e-commerce
systems based on intelligent agent technology is inevitable. Intelligent agents will be
part of the information architecture of next generation of e-commerce software and
websites will be powered to serve the customer as well as the firm.