Gateways, Agents, and Proxies: Definitions

An agent acts on your behalf, a gateway converts between protocols, and a proxy emulates a service provided by a server that is not contacted directly by the client itself.

agent: In the client-server model, the part of the system that performs information preparation and exchange on behalf of a client or server. Especially in the phrase "intelligent agent" it implies some kind of automatic process which can communicate with other agents to perform some collective task on behalf of one or more humans. (1995-04-09)

gateway: 1. protocol converter....

proxy gateway: A computer and associated software which will pass on a request for a URL from a World-Wide Web browser such as Mosaic to an outside server and return the results. This provides clients that are sealed off from the Internet a trusted agent that can access the Internet on their behalf.