Mobile Computing Hardware & Software
Components
The following components comprise a complete end-to-end
solution for mobile computing applications:
Hardware:
- Mobile computing device - be it, a notebook, hand-held
computer, pen computer, PDA, PalmOS compatible PDA, Symbian EPOC
handheld device,
Windows CE/Pocket PC device, or a modern smart phone with Wireless
Internet connectivity
- A suitably-configured wireline or wireless WAN modem, wireless
LAN adapter, or a flash card either as a distinctly separate accessory
or embedded on the device - as is the trend now.
- A Web Server with wireless support, WAP
gateway, a Communications Server
and/or MCSS (Mobile communications server switch) or a wireless
gateway embedded in wireless carrier's network - this server provides
communications functionality to allow the handheld device to communicate
with the Internet or Intranet infrastructure.
- An application or database server (the hardware piece) with
application logic and business application database - tier 2 server
- Optionally, a large enterprise application
server (tier3) in the form of a Unix super server, IBM'ss AS/400 server or IBM's OS/390
mainframe. .
Software:
- Mobile client OS-type software that resides in the mobile
device - it may be Windows98/2000/NT, PalmOS, Win CE (or Pocket PC),
EPOC, a specialized OS like Blackberry, or a Web
browser
- Mobile application user interface with application
logic in a handheld PDA, smartphone, Palm or a Wintel notebook. In the
Internet world, it is often under the control of a browser or
microbrowser.
- Application server and/or database server software
- Back-end legacy application software on
large Unix servers (from vendors such as Sun, IBM, and HP), IBM AS/400,or IBM
S/390 mainframes
- Application middleware (a piece of
software that communicates with backend legacy systems and web-based
application servers). IBM's WebSphere, BEA's WebLogic or Oracle's 9i are
typical examples in this category.
- Wireless middleware that links multiple
wireless networks to application servers
- Data synchronization software that
synchronizes data in the mobile device with the network server or the
backend server
- Mobile Device management software like
XcelleNet's Afaria, Synchrologic Mobile suite or Mobile Automation's
MA2000.
- Finally, the most useful software - end
user application like messaging, sales force automation, public query,
data collection, etc.
Network
A wireless network - this may be either a private network
that police agencies and emergency health services use or a public shared network that is
provided by network providers, such as Cingular (formerly Bell South Wireless
Data), Verizon, Sprint PCS, Nextel, Bell Mobility (Canada) , Roger's
AT&T (Canada), Vodafone in Europe, BT in UK, NTT DoCoMo (Japan), etc.
While wireless network provides true mobility, you may
utilize a wireline network for those mobile users who need occasion connection from
hotels, motels or airport lounges of airline's regular patrons. Some of these airports are
now offering wireless LAN connectivity to wireline backend networks.
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