Web Trends
• Web is evolving from a provider of documents and images (information retrieval)
• To a provider of services
• Web service discovery -
Find me an airline service that offers flights to Singapore
 
• Web service execution -
Buy me “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” at
     www.amazon.com
• Web service selection, composition and interoperation -
Make my travel arrangements for my Internet World conference trip
• Both retrieval and services lend themselves to agent technologies
There is another factor in the evolution of the World Wide Web that is driving the advancement of agent technology. Initially the main function of the Web was to provide access to information and that is still very important, but there is also an increasing capability for the Web to provide services. There are now many things you can search for and buy via Web services. A next step in this direction is the development of capabilities to provide more complex services. You might soon be able type in the basic parameters of your trip to this conference and have a software agent, which also knows your travel preferences and budget, put your entire travel arrangements together - including airplane, hotel, rental car reservations based on your organizational policies and personal preferences.