(n.) 1. The implementation of a mechanical or electronic system or tool to automatically complete a task, thereby reducing or eliminating human interven- tion. 2. Formerly known as OLE Automation, a Microsoft-designed technology that enables an applica- tion to expose objects and their properties for use by other applications. This allows a word processor to dis- play and manipulate a spreadsheet program, for instance. The application that exposes an object for use is called the server; the application that manipulates the object is called the client. Automation can be either local or remote (on a computer elsewhere on a network). It is intended primarily for use by high-level languages such as Microsoft Visual Basic and Microsoft Visual C++. See also ActiveX control, OLE. automonitor n. A process or system feature capable of assessing the status of its own internal environment. autonomous agent n. A software or robotic entity that is capable of independent action in open, unpredictable envi- ronments. Often referred to as an intelligent agent, or sim- ply agent, autonomous agents complete some kind of automatic process that can communicate with other agents or perform different kinds of directed tasks. Autonomous agents are currently being applied in areas as diverse as computer games, interactive cinema, information retrieval and filtering, user interface design, electronic commerce, auto piloting of vehicles and spacecraft, and industrial process control. Also called: intelligent agent. See also agent (definition 2). autonomous-system number n. See autonomous system. autonomous system n. A group of routers or networks controlled by a single administrative authority using a common Interior Gateway Protocol (IGP) for routing AAuto PC A/UX 45 packets. Each autonomous system is assigned a globally unique number called an autonomous-system number (ASN). Acronym: AS. Also called: routing domain. See also IGP.

The technology by which a process or procedure is performed without human assistance

A term first used in the late 1940s by the Ford Motor Company. It is used to describe the employment of machines that reduce or dispense entirely with