Network Computingwww.networkcomputing.com

Those proprietary days are long gone: Now General Magic offers a Java-base d mobile agent prototype, called Odyssey, available from its Web site at no charge. Odyssey is an agent system that can create, manage and execute agents. It also has its own application programming interface (API) so applications can be tweaked to work with Odyssey. An Odyssey agent could manage your stock portfolio, buying and selling stocks un der certain conditions you preset. Or it could plan your Friday evening, complete with ordering a pizza delivered to your doorstep. White says that after a scant three weeks on the Web, there were more than 1,000 downloads of the code. That's a lot of pizzas if the technology works as planned.

Meanwhile, General Magic also has been getting its house in order. After trimming its workforce earlier this year and refocusing its efforts on the Internet, the company has hired one of IBM's top intelligent-agent gurus, Danny Lange, inventor of the Java "aglet," a lightweight mobile agent for the Java environment. Lange is now director of General Magic's agents division. In addition, General Magic is about to roll out "Serengeti," an agent service aimed at mobile workers. Serengeti will come with a voice user interface, among other things, so you could give it commands over the phone while you are on the road.

Take My Modems, Please
Who wants to mess with pesky modem pools anymore? More IT departments are looking to farm out their remote network and Internet access applications, according to a recent report by Dataquest. That's because remote access, which can put a drain on the helpdesk, may be one of the priciest applications for IT departments to support, says Bobbi Murphy, Dataquest's chief analyst for remote LANs and Internet access. Bell Atlantic and Ameritech have announced plans for such outsourcing services, as has Concentric Networks. Look for some major Internet service providers (ISPs) to jump in soon, too, says Murphy.