Architectures for Mobile Services

Abstract

Until recently, an architecture for mobile services, normally consisted of a web server, a storybook of Wireless Markup Language (WML) pages and a module for interfacing with the gateways of the mobile operators. Such was the architectural layout for systems producing content, which was called mobile, because it could be consumed on browser applications running on mobile phones, which were connected to the internet via a low-bandwidth radio protocol such as GPRS (General Packet Radio Service). Hence, creating a mobile service was equally complex or simple as creating an internet application in the early days of the internet. However, the complexity of creating a compelling internet services has mainly grown in the area of graphical features (as broadband access has become widespread), while the actual number of architectural components which are necessary for an internet application is not much different from an architecture ten years ago. Only since the emergence of communication protocols such as VoiP (Voice over IP) and SIP (Session Initiation Protocol), has a new dimension been added to the service creation process in the internet world. In the mobile service creation area, the number of architectural components that must be considered when designing new services has grown much more rapidly in the last few years compared to the internet service creation area.