Abstract
This study explains the concepts of an electronic marketplace (e-marketplace) and the types of e-marketplaces in today’s computing environment that is facilitated and driven by the Internet. The concept of software agent and the different types of agents which may exist in an e-marketplace application in the current setting of the global economy is also discussed. Specifically the idea of using mobile agents in the implementation of an e-marketplace is investigated. This article also introduces an example of a mobile agent-based e-marketplace which offers secure infrastructure services. The complex and challenging computing environment in which agents operate requires efforts in the standardization and management of agents.
TopBackground Of Electronic Marketplace
A market is a meeting place for buyers and sellers where they are able to engage in trading and commerce. An e-marketplace is a virtual space that serves as a meeting place for buyers and sellers and at the same time serves also as a provider of integrated knowledge about all products and services. Transactions in an e-marketplace are carried out via various market mechanisms. Three main functions of a market, traditional or otherwise facilitate (Zwass, 2003):
- 1)
matching buyers and sellers;
- 2)
as a moderator in the exchange of information, products, services and payment related to the transactions; and
- 3)
to provide the infrastructure that acts as a legal institution and local authorities that are able to control and assist in the smoothness of the market functions.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Agent: A software entity which can perform tasks autonomously, capable of making independent decisions, and taking actions to satisfy internal goals based upon its perceived environment.
Mobile Agent: Agent code that moves itself, including its execution state, on to another machine, to continue execution there. This is also referred to as mobile code.
Market-making mechanism: A mode of business transactions which specifies the use of money or goods exchanged by buyers and sellers with an open and understood system of value and time trade-offs to produce the best distribution of goods and services.
Agent e-marketplace: An electronic market which uses software agents to represent buyers, sellers and other components of an electronic marketplace.
Intelligent Agent: Software agent with the ability to acquire specific domain knowledge, learn and reason to make smart decision.
E-marketplace: A virtual space that provides infrastructure services for buyers and sellers to meet and conduct business transactions online.
Agent management: The activities of monitoring and handling agent communication, collaboration and resource usage between agents of the same and different agent platforms.