Patent ID: 7275048

Claim:
An apparatus, comprising: (a) first and second product support intelligent agents that perform product support operations in connection with a computer-related product, wherein at least one of the first and second product support intelligent agents that performs at least one of a product support operation that identifies an undesirable operational condition associated with the computer-related product and a product support operation that remedies an undesirable operational condition associated with the computer-related product; (b) a first agent platform that executes on a customer computer that utilizes the computer-related product; and (c) a product support program resident on a product support computer used in providing product support for the computer-related product, the product support program including a second agent platform, wherein the product support program that dispatches the first product support intelligent agent to the customer computer for execution by the first agent platform, and initiates execution of the second product support intelligent agent by the second agent platform, wherein the customer and product support computers are respectively disposed at separate customer and vendor sites and are respectively under the control of a customer that uses the computer-related product and a vendor that supplies at least a portion of the computer-related product.