Towards agent-based software engineering for information-dependent enterprise applications

Established enterprises continue to create new applications and systems without removing older ones. Legacy systems are often necessary to the new applications, but inadequate for the new environment, which can be large and widely distributed. Two applications are presented: kiosks for telephone sales and support; and information access for service technicians. These are representative of a large class of distributed information-dependent applications. This class is characterised by geographical distribution, organisational dispersion and broad implementational heterogeneity, which together form a technology barrier that hinders rapid system adaption. The approach described addresses the distribution and heterogeneity common to this class of application by creating an application-independent software agent kernel and then deploying that kernel in various specific applications according to a practical and incremental strategy