From: Robert Hettinga Subject: DCSB: Tim Middelkoop; Software Agent Systems for Digital Commerce The Digital Commerce Society of Boston Presents Tim Middelkoop Developer, Agent Systems, University of Massachusetts, Amherst Designing Software Agent Systems for Digital Commerce Tuesday, July 6th, 1999 12 - 2 PM The Downtown Harvard Club of Boston One Federal Street, Boston, MA As agent based systems move out of the controlled laboratory and simulated environment into real world applications, they face significant design and operational challenges. We attempt to highlight some of the major issues involved in the design and implementation of agent based applications. Our intent is not to prescribe specific solutions or actions, which will depend on the application domain, scope and resources available, but to make the reader aware of the issues which need serious consideration when using agents to tackle real world problems in digital commerce. Tim Middelkoop is a doctoral student studying at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. His background in agent systems comes from his entrepreneurial experiences and developing an agent based integrated design system for the aerospace industry. Current research directions include the area of large scale distributed agent systems and more specifically their fundamental properties such as convergence rationality and how they relate to real world applications. Specific application areas include using agents for supply chain coordination and testing properties of real agent systems. This meeting of the Digital Commerce Society of Boston will be held on Tuesday, July 6, 1999, from 12pm - 2pm at the Downtown Branch of the Harvard Club of Boston, on One Federal Street. The price for lunch is $32.50. This price includes lunch, room rental, various A/V hardware, and the speakers' lunch. The Harvard Club *does* have dress code: jackets and ties for men (and no sneakers or jeans), and "appropriate business attire" (whatever that means), for women. Fair warning: since we purchase these luncheons in advance, we will be unable to refund the price of your lunch if the Club finds you in violation of the dress code. We need to receive a company check, or money order, (or, if we *really* know you, a personal check) payable to "The Harvard Club of Boston", by Saturday, July 3rd, or you won't be on the list for lunch. Checks payable to anyone else but The Harvard Club of Boston will have to be sent back. Checks should be sent to Robert Hettinga, 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, Massachusetts, 02131. Again, they *must* be made payable to "The Harvard Club of Boston", in the amount of $32.50. Please include your e-mail address so that we can send you a confirmation If anyone has questions, or has a problem with these arrangements (We've had to work with glacial A/P departments more than once, for instance), please let us know via e-mail, and we'll see if we can work something out. Upcoming speakers for DCSB are: August Ari Jeuls Digital Bearer Contingent Claims using X-Cash We are actively searching for future speakers. If you are in Boston on the first Tuesday of the month, and you are a principal in digital commerce, and would like to make a presentation to the Society, please send e-mail to the DCSB Program Commmittee, care of Robert Hettinga, . For more information about the Digital Commerce Society of Boston, send "info dcsb" in the body of a message to . If you want to subscribe to the DCSB e-mail list, send "subscribe dcsb" in the body of a message to . We look forward to seeing you there! Cheers, Robert Hettinga Moderator, The Digital Commerce Society of Boston ----------------- Robert A. Hettinga The Digital Bearer Underwriting Corporation 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA "... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity, [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'