Havana: a mobile agent platform for seamless integration with the existing Web infrastructure

Several research projects have been proposed to use mobile agents to deal with information overload. Their results, however, are not applicable in the existing Web infrastructure mainly because no Web sites are agent-enabled. There are two main reasons why Web site operators are not willing to let agents run on them: (1) security issues; and (2) many commercial Web sites make money from advertisement; if agents are going to do the work then who is going to see the ads? We have designed the Havana agent platform that addresses both of these issues. What is interesting about this platform is that it enables businesses to form beneficial business partnerships (e.g. between content providers and Internet Services Providers (ISPs) or even cellular network operators). In this paper, we discuss the design and implementation of the Havana platform. Some of the interesting features in the Havana platform include: (1) it can be seamlessly integrated into existing Web sites; (2) it enables business of different types to form beneficial partnerships; (3) supports location-based services and advertisements; (4) addresses the security issues in a revolutionary approach; and (5) can be accessed from any device.