Agents are a needed entity due to the exponential growth of information available on the Internet. With individuals adding information to the Internet regularly, the influx of data is difficult to process. Users are beginning to suffer from severe information overload. This problem is compounded by the fact that access speeds to the Internet are also increasing. When you surf with 14,400 baud modem, there is only so much information you can gather in say, an hour. A 28,800 baud modem doubles (approximately) the information you can gather in that same hour's time.

With the development of technologies such as ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network) access speeds can be pushed up to 128,000 bits per second. This would theoretically allow the ISDN user to access eight times the information available to a 14.4 baud modem user in the same time period. Of course, users in organizations with Ethernet networks and access to T-1 and Fractional T-1 lines have even higher connection speeds and more access to an overwhelming information base. With this new technology, many users will acquire the knowledge they seek in a matter of minutes, yet for the thousands of users who have yet to upgrade to faster pathways, agents are the smartest way to obtain valued information.www.trcinc.com/news/iagents/devindex.html

Some agents, which are available now, can save users time by performing repetitive tasks such as gathering and posting e-mail and checking newsgroups. The user does not need to be "driving" the computer and can compose e-mail and newsgroup postings off-line at their leisure. These type of agents are relatively simple and are often rule-based scripts. Agents which search for information will extend this advantage of walking away from the computer and having time to do other things while your agent searches. Currently, if you need some information, you generally sit down at the computer and fire up a search engine such as Yahoo, Lycos, or Web Crawler. At this point, you spend minutes, hours, maybe even days searching and gathering information. With the help of an intelligent agent, your input could decrease to a few minutes. You tell the agent what you want and continue working on other projects or move on to more enjoyable endeavors.

Of course, in the real world, time is money. As more information is available, the time required to get that information increases proportionally. With the help of an agent, users do not have to waste their time gathering information. Another advantage of agents is monetary savings. Connect charges will decrease substantially as a result of this software entity. Those familiar with researching the web know that it is difficult to take the time to get quality information when the "meter is running." Using an agent allows the user to log-on, tell the agent what to search for, and log-out.

Finally, agents will make the Internet and computers easier to use. The rapid progression of technology has caused the complexity of hardware and software to increase. At the same time, the decreasing cost of this technology is allowing access to more people with fewer computer skills. In the "old days" of computing, the people who could afford or had access to technology had the corresponding skills to operate that technology. The widespread growth and availability of technology is a wonderful and empowering thing, but it creates this paradox, one which may solved by agent technology.