FIPA - towards a standard for software agents

Software agent technology will have a significant impact on the shape of the global information society in the next millennium. This branch of systems engineering is rapidly becoming a viable and exploitable technology where BT is well placed as both a potential user and provider of agent-based services and products. The highly interactive nature of multi-agent systems points to the need for consensus on agent interfaces in order to support interoperability between different agent systems. The completion and adoption of such a standard is a prerequisite to the commercialisation and successful exploitation of agent technology. This paper describes FIPA (Foundation for intelligent Physical Agents) and its organisation. It provides an overview and guide to the FIPA97 specification. It discusses how FIPA relates to other agent standards activities and concludes with FIPA's plans for 1998.