Abstract
Use of the Internet has exploded in recent years with the appearance of the World-Wide Web. In this paper, we show how current technological trends necessarily lead to a system based substantially on mobile code, and in many cases, mobile agents. We discuss several technical and non-technical hurdles along the path to that eventuality. Finally, we predict that, within five years, nearly all major Internet sites will be capable of hosting and willing to host some form of mobile agents.

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Presented by:
David Kotz and Robert S. Gray
Department of Computer Science / Thayer School of Engineering
Dartmouth College
Hanover, New Hampshire 03755

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Introduction Rapidly evolving network and computer technology, coupled with the exponential growth of the services and information available on the Internet, will soon bring us to the point where hundreds of millions of people will have fast, pervasive access to a phenomenal amount of information, through desktop machines at work, school and home, through televisions, phones, pagers, and car dashboards, from anywhere and everywhere. Mobile agents will be an essential tool for allowing such access. Mobile agents are an e_ective choice for many reasons [LO99], and although not all applications will need mobile agents, many other applications will _nd mobile agents the most e_ective implementation technique for all or part of their tasks. Although current trends in Internet technology and usage lead inevitably to the use of mobile agents, several technical and non-technical hurdles must be addressed along the way. Although these hurdles represent signi_cant challenges, they can be cleared within years, and nearly all major Internet sites will accept mobile agents within _ve years. The goal of this position paper is to spark discussion about how best to realize this optimistic, but reasonable, vision.
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http://handle.dtic.mil/100.2/ADA440125