Mobile computing

Contemporary working environment is characterized by its mobility. Increased number of people does not have a single work place, they are often using a variety of even remote equipment while requiring seemingly permanent contact among themselves and with corporate headquarters. This trend can be easily seen also at universities, where information, computational and other services are to be available for people moving literally around the globe. Increased number of people is being equipped with mobile devices, ranging from small personal ”wearable” devices like mobile phones and PDAs (personal digital assistants like Palm or recent iPAQ from Compaq) to more powerful systems like notebooks. All these devices can be in some way connected to other and increasing number of them provide ways to be connected directly to Internet, using some wireless connection system (infrared, GSM or similar cellular telephone systems, wireless network protocols like IEEE 802.11b etc.). When using such devices, people expect to be given the same range of applications regardless of actual place of use-they expect support for applications mobility.