| Introducing the Intel Mobile Application Architecture Guide |
by Justin B. Huntsman (Dec. 4, 2003)
Overview
In a survey on consumer spending with regard to computers, figures showed that sales of notebook computers through May 2003 had outpaced sales of desktops, showing the increasing popularity of mobile computing (Notebook Sales Hit New Highs, CNET News.com, July 2, 2003). Additionally, industry experts are seeing a trend in the move to mobile systems as small business owners and consumers realize the convenience and flexibility that portable notebooks provide.
These trends have created a growing need for applications that take advantage of mobile environments. Excellent opportunities now exist for application architects and developers to upgrade existing applications and to design new ones with fully mobilized capabilities.
Continuing a long involvement in the wireless arena, Intel actively supports application architects and developers in pursuing these endeavors by means of tools, technologies, programs, and services. Among these is a comprehensive guide to help application architects and developers understand and overcome the challenges common in the creation of fully mobilized applications.
In particular, the guide identifies issues in the areas of portals, document sharing, and databases, offering implementation strategies to deal with those issues. Application architects and developers who seek to mobilize existing applications or create new mobilized software will find the Intel Mobile Application Architecture Guide a valuable tool and resource (the guide will be available on December 15, 2003).
The Need for a Mobilized Usage Model
A number of factors drive what has come to be known as the mobilized software usage model. Mobile computing devices, including laptops and handhelds, increasingly include integrated wireless capabilities. Wi-Fi (802.11) access points for wireless connectivity have appeared everywhere, from coffee shops to airports to public meeting spaces. Moreover, a growing number of complementary wireless networking standards, such as Wireless Personal Area Networks (802.15) and Wireless Metropolitan Area Networks (802.16) have evolved.
Accordingly, the users of mobile notebooks, smart phones, PDAs, and other such devices who take these devices everywhere they go have come to expect their software applications to behave the same way through the intermittent "hotspots" in a coffee shop or airport as they do in the traditional network environment available at their office.
To achieve such functionality transparently, however, these applications must meet a new set of requirements and support a specific set of capabilities, including the following: - They must provide intelligent roaming capabilities to enable users to work without interruption, even when network connections are disrupted.
- They must exploit multiple network interfaces in a single device or be able to select the fastest or least costly connection, for example, when two or more connections are simultaneously available.
- They must successfully synchronize databases by caching contents to local devices through asynchronous connections.
- They must enable access to data and applications on diverse devices through identical or similar user interfaces.
- They must be portable to diverse devices.
- They must conserve power at the operating system level and maximize performance.
To implement that functionality in existing applications, users have traditionally had to perform significant technical interventions, such as installing special network interface cards (NICs) and regularly updating assigned IP addresses through an often tedious command-line-based release/renew process. For their part, application architects and developers have attempted to work around such problems without the benefit of development environments, application programming interfaces (APIs), or third-party middleware solutions that are tailored for mobile environments.
The Intel Mobile Application Architecture Guide
Recently, the industry has begun to understand the magnitude of the problem and to develop ways to solve it. In that spirit, Intel is publishing the Mobile Application Architecture Guide. The guide provides software architects and developers a starting point for revising or adding new functionality to existing products, leveraging products that already support some level of asynchronous connectivity, and building brand-new mobilized products.
To help application architects and developers streamline development and deliver their products to market quickly, the document shares implementation strategies with a focus on offline data management, intelligent connectivity, multiple platform support, and optimization of power and performance. The guide also identifies the primary capabilities required of such applications, such as efficient resource management, comprehensive context management, encoding, view consistency, extended policy and security functionality, durable storage, and reliable messaging.
In particular, the guide presents these strategies and capabilities in the context of three primary architectural environments for mobilized applications, and addresses each of them in detail: - Portal architecture -- In a traditional networked environment, the external information sources used by the portal to generate displayed data are continuously available. In the mobilized environment, other methods must be used to provide access to information, whether the user's mobile device is online or offline. Such methods include caching portal generated data and replicating code and data that is used to generate portal content on mobile client devices.
To help application architects and developers implement a mobilized portal architecture, the guide explains the specific modifications that must be made on both the server and the client sides of the application.
- Document-sharing architecture -- In a traditional networked environment, concurrency can be accomplished through various means, such as restricting modification permissions. In the mobilized environment, the architecture must provide a means to resynchronize modified copies of a document by integrating changes into a common version of the document.
To help application architects and developers implement a mobilized document sharing architecture, the guide discusses issues surrounding reintegration and document structure, content adapters, directory-tree synchronization, and stateless versus stateful server design.
- Database architecture -- In a traditional networked environment, data is maintained in a single, central database controlled by an RDBMS. In the mobilized environment, data is replicated on the client system to make it available to a mobile user working offline. The integrity of data is maintained through automatic updates whenever the client system is connected to the network.
To help application architects and developers implement a mobilized database architecture, the guide discusses challenges surrounding data availability, connectivity, and data transfer. Complementary Tools and Services
In addition to publishing the Mobile Application Architecture Guide, Intel is working in other ways to support architects and developers in migrating existing applications and developing new applications for the mobilized environment.
Through the Mobilized Software Initiative, Intel and other technology companies work with ISVs and other industry leaders to provide a comprehensive set of architectural specifications, best practices, tools, technologies, training, and services. In conjunction with the initiative, at least 20 conferences are being held worldwide over the period from late 2003 to the end of 2004.
Through the Early Access Program for Mobility, Intel works directly with software companies to provide them early access to technology, as well as account-relationship and business-development opportunities to help maximize software performance on the latest Intel processors.
Member companies working on mobilized applications enjoy access to APIs and other software designed to help applications support diverse network infrastructures, to transition from one network to another, and to conserve battery power while maximizing performance. Program members also receive a suite of tools designed to help integrate power management and network-communication features into their applications.
Through direct, one-on-one involvement, Intel supports application architects and developers at Fortune 100 companies and others to mobilize internal applications. All of these activities are in keeping with Intel's leadership in wireless technologies and long involvement working with wireless application architects and developers. Through these programs and activities, and especially through publication of the Mobile Application Architecture Guide, Intel is vastly expanding its involvement in this arena.
Summary
A number of factors are driving the need for and utility of applications that support asynchronous wireless connectivity: - Proliferation of diverse wireless hardware devices
- Convergence of smart phones and PDAs with handheld computers and a growing level of computing power in these small devices
- Increasing presence of wireless functionality in notebooks, laptops, and other larger devices
- Establishment of wireless hotspots in numerous public spaces
To meet the need for applications that can take advantage of these trends, Intel provides a comprehensive selection of tools and services. One of the most prominent is the Intel Mobile Application Architecture Guide. This guide is designed to help application architects and developers accelerate the development and deployment of software created for use in mobile environments.
By adopting the implementation strategies offered in the guide, developers can understand and minimize the challenges of delivering truly mobilized applications to their user base.
More Info
View or download the Intel Mobile Application Architecture Guide.
Learn more about the tools, technologies, services, and programs available through the Mobilized Software Initiative and how they can help application architects and developers to bring mobilized applications to market quickly.
To access the latest technical resources for mobilizing notebook and handheld applications, visit Intel Developer Services. There, application architects and developers can find content, resources, training, support, and opportunities designed to accelerate the development and deployment of applications, solutions, and tools.
To sign up for the Intel Early Access Program for Mobility, visit the Intel Early Access Program site.
 About the author: Justin B. Huntsman is a technical marketing engineer in the Intel Software Solutions Group. Since joining Intel in 1993, he has focused on software and Web-development projects. Justin spends the bulk of his time researching mobile infrastructure technologies and working with independent software vendors and operating system vendors to optimize their products for Intel's latest platforms.
Copyright © Intel Corporation 2003. All rights reserved. Reproduced by DeviceForge.com with permission. This article was originally published in Intel's Technology@Intel Magazine.
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