Data Management for Mobile Computing

Earthdate,August11,1997"BeammeupScottie!""Wecannotdoit!ThisisnotStarTrek'sEnterprise.ThisisearlyyearsEarth."True,thisisnotyettheeraofStarTrek,wecannotbeamcaptainJamesT.KirkorcaptainJeanLucPickardoranappleoranythingelseanywhere.WhatwecandothoughisbeaminformationaboutKirkorPickardoranappleoraninsuranceagent.Wecanbeamarecordofapatient,thestatusofanengine,aweatherreport.Wecanbeamthisinformationanywhere,tomobileworkers,tofieldengineers,toatrackloadingapples,toshipscrossingtheOceans,towebsurfers.Wehavereachedapointwherethepromiseofinformationaccessanywhereandanytimeisclosetorealization.Theenablingtechnology,wirelessnetworks,exists;whatremainstobeachievedisprovidingtheinfrastructureandthesoftwaretosupportthepromise.Universalaccessandmanagementofinformationhasbeenoneofthedrivingforcesintheevolutionofcomputertechnology.Centralcomputinggavetheabilitytoperformlargeandcomplexcomputationsandadvancedinformationmanipulation.Advancesinnetworkingconnectedcomputerstogetherandledtodistributedcomputing.WebtechnologyandtheInternetwentevenfurthertoprovidehyper-linkedinformationaccessandglobalcomputing.However,restrictingaccessstationstophysicallocationlimitstheboundaryofthevision.,