Among the many changes brought by the Internet is the emergence of electronic commerce over the Web. E-commerce activities, such as the online exchange of information, services, and products, are opening up completely new opportunities for business, at new levels of productivity and profitability. In parallel with the emergence of e-commerce, intelligent software agents as entities capable of independent action in open, unpredictable environments have matured into a promising new technology. Quite naturally, e-commerce agents hold great promise for exploiting the Internet's full potential as an electronic marketplace. The 20 coherently written chapters in this book by leading researchers and professionals present the state of the art in agent-mediated e-commerce. Researchers, professionals, and advanced students interested in e-commerce or agent technology will find this book an indispensable source of information and reference.

互联网带来的诸多变化之一是网络电子商务的出现。电子商务活动，例如信息、服务和产品的在线交换，正在以新的生产力和盈利水平为商业提供全新的机会。随着电子商务的出现，智能软件代理作为一种能够在开放的、不可预知的环境中独立行动的实体，已经发展成为一种很有前途的新技术。很自然地，电子商务代理在开发因特网作为电子市场的全部潜力方面有很大的希望。在这本书的20个连贯写的章节，由领先的研究人员和专业人士提出了在代理介导的电子商务的艺术状态。对电子商务或代理技术感兴趣的研究人员、专业人士和高级学生会发现这本书是不可或缺的信息和参考资料来源。