Mobility management and roaming with mobile agents

In this paper we propose that the mobile agent concept can be used in the design and implementation of ideal user mobility. The paper starts with a discussion of the traditional mobility concepts; terminal and personal mobility. The concept of ideal user mobility is introduced which can be seen as an extension of these two concepts better suited for the needs of the mobile user. Then, the fundamental mechanisms for mobility support are described and how they can be implemented by mobile agents. Strategically mobile agents which can combine all these mechanisms in a flexible way is then discussed. The paper concludes with a summary of why mobile agents are well suited to provide mobility support and some suggestions for future studies.