Mobile Computing

Mobile Computing

Introduction:
A global wireless protocol specification, to work across heterogeneous wireless network technologies and communication standards for digital mobile phones, supported by over 1,200 companies is defined by Wireless Application Protocol (WAP). WAP makes it possible for mobile phones to access the Internet and retrieve information on simplified display screens or through a voice interface. WAP phones can receive text and data, including pages downloaded from the World Wide Web, as well as voice using an implementation of WAP. As you can see WAP has many capabilities and due to these capabilities and the amount of new upcoming handsets with features such as built-in cameras, video streaming capabilities and graphics/text integration, WAP is well on its way to making a comeback (Armor, 2002).

WAP’s Come Back: Enhanced Messaging Services (EMS) combines text and graphics and it uses a WAP browser. Motorola is coming out with a new flat-screen color display phone, which includes a camera as well as an MP3 player, supports MMS and EMS through the WAP 2.0 browser. This has paved the way for WAP to make a quiet comeback even though early WAP browsers were not that great. Many of the handset vendors feel that the current version of WAP gives the technology the capability that it was not able to deliver on in the beginning Nobel, 2002).

Short Message Services (SMS): The transformation from using them as all-purpose data devices that enrich our personal lives through constant communication is already evident in the use of Short Message Services (SMS) (Nadel, 2002). SMS is a globally accepted wireless service that enables the transmission of alphanumeric messages between mobile subscribers and external systems such as e-mail, paging, and voice-mail systems. SMS provides a mechanism for transmitting short messages to and from wireless devices. The service makes use of a local base station, which acts as a store-and-forward system for short messages. The wireless network provides the mechanisms required to find the destination station(s) and transports short messages between the base station and wireless stations (Armor, 2002).

The benefits of SMS to subscribers center on convenience, flexibility, and seamless integration of messaging services and data access. Looking at things from this point of view the primary benefit is the use of the handset as an extension of the computer (Armor, 2002). In order to make this vision of wireless technology a reality many people are depending on the implementation and adoption of 3G technology (Nadel, 2002).

The Next (Third) Generation (3G): 3G can be defined as the next (third) generation of wireless technology beyond personal communications services (Armor, 2002). 3G can be referred to as a catch all phrase that sub sequentially describes the next step in mobile phones. Speeds of 100 Kbps and up can be attained by sending and receiving all data and voice traffic in packets. Portable bandwidth will rise to the level of wired broadband connections through the use of 3G technology, thus enabling instant messaging, videoconferencing, gaming, and son forth. Handsets are projected to become a useful part of our lives just like PCs increased in usefulness and value when they connected to one another and the Internet (Nadel, 2002).

Java Intelligent Network Infrastructure (Jini): Jini may be the best-known component of the pervasive computing technology because of the marketing efforts of Sun. Jini regulates the communication between computers and other devices in the network and allows peripherals to be connected to the network without special configurations and used immediately. The self-identifying devices transmit their technical specifications and eliminate the need for “manual” driver selection (Armor, 2002).

Bluetooth: Bluetooth is the specification for small form-factor, low-cost, short-range radio links between mobile PCs, phones, and other portable devices. Bluetooth devices can detect each other automatically and set up a network connection. Using a modulation frequency of 204 GHz, they transfer data from one adapter to another, whereby the signals don have a predefined direction and can, in principle, be received from any other device. Bluetooth also enable devices to communicate with each other on the basis of Jini technology without being connected by cable (Armor, 2002).

Bluetooth contains a maximum of three voice channels and seven data channels per piconet. Security is administered at the link layer. Each link is encoded and protected against both eavesdropping and interference (Armor, 2002).

Wireless Security: All WLAN devices have come package with a security mechanism called WEP since the ratification of 802.11b. WEP allows for the encryption of wireless traffic. But, encryption is turned off by default in wireless devices and software, and in a lot of cases it was never actually turned on (Ward off the, 2002).

WEP relies on a secret key to encrypt packets transmitted between a mobile station (advice with a wireless Ethernet card) and an access point (abase station connecting to a wired network). An integrity check ensures that packets aren’t modified in transit. But in actuality many installations use a sing key that’s shared by a mobile and access points (Kay, 2002).

However, in any case when WEP is really turned on it still isn’t terribly secure as some managers don’t change the key because it has to be done manually. Besides that a real expert can steal a key in a matter of seconds (Ward off the, 2002).

Even though WEP have weaknesses it is still ok for it to be used by households and small offices. Large corporations should use layers of security (Ward off the, 2002).
There is an anticipated replacement, 802.11i which will incorporate a stronger authentication that is known as the Advanced Encryption Standard. This standard wards off intruders through the use of a complex algorithm to encode the data. A final standard is expected by analysts in about a year. The drawback to this new standard is that it has caused IT managers to worry about there current WLAN equipment becoming obsolete. However, there are stronger encryptions available in the meantime using Wi-Fi Protected Access (Ward off the, 2002).

At the present time the best security option is installation a virtual private network, or VPN—a data tunnel that can safely carry traffic from an employee’s computer to the corporate network over a public medium such as air. Network managers have the option of leaving their security in the hands of a large supplier to manage everything from administration to security or they can buy any brand of hardware and get security without being locked into a single supplier (Ward off the, 2002)