The pervasive connectivity of the Internet and the powerful architecture of WWW have created a tremendous opportunity for conducting business on Internet. A combination of business, social, and technical possibilities are driving the rapid progress in electronic commerce.
Many problems remain to be solved before e-commerce becomes a standard form of business activity.
Customers must find it convenient and easy to use and have confidence that their information will be safeguarded and that their transactions will be completed and honored. To achieve such dependable and efficient service, we will need to use networks that support qualities of service, systems that can replicate resources, and software that can tolerate failures of various components without interrupting service to most users or corrupting any vital data. Stuart Feldman leads the newly-established IBM Institute for Advanced Commerce, which brings together top leaders in business and academia to research the impact of emerging technologies on the future of business and commerce. Feldman joined IBM in 1995 as Department Group Manager, Network Applications Research. The prime purpose of this session is to provide researchers an opportunity to discuss their evolving ideas and gather feedback thereon from the community at large.