Cloud-Based Impact for Mobile and Pervasive Environments: A Survey

Mobile Cloud Computing (MCC) which combines mobile computing and cloud computing, has become one of the industry buzz words and a major discussion thread in the IT world since 2009. Despite increasing usage of mobile computing, exploiting its full potential is difficult due to its inherent problems such as resource scarcity, frequent disconnections, and mobility. MCC integrates the cloud computing into the mobile environment and overcomes obstacles related to the performance (e.g., battery life,storage, and bandwidth), environment (e.g., heterogeneity, scalability, and availability), and security (e.g., reliability and privacy) discussed in mobile computing. As MCC is still at the early stage of development, it is necessary to grasp a thorough understanding of the technology in order to point out the direction of future research. With the latter aim, this paper presents a review on the background and principle of MCC, characteristics, recent research work, and future research trends.