This is my first posting here. We have a small group here at Siemens looking at the problem of using agents to do information retrieval tasks in large networks. In our prototype system, each each user and each information repository is represented by an agent, called a userbot and a corpusbot, respectively. Similarly, a corpusbot evolves into an expert on the best way to access the information contained within its resource.
Agents cooperate to support both browsing and explicit content-based searches.
A userbot can execute multiple scripts concurrently and individual scripts can execute on multiple machines during the course of a single invocation. Both scripts and profile information contained in one userbot can be imported into another userbot, facilitating data discovery and leveraging the costs associated with writing scripts. Please contact me if you would like further information.