Mobile workers: access to information on the move

As the development of 'pen computing' continues, more and more of today's computers are likely gradually to move away from people's desktops and into their pockets. The development of personal digital assistants (PDAs) has initiated this move. As these devices move into people's pockets, they need the ability to access information on the move. This article describes a generic view of client server mobile computing architecture. It also sheds some light on the basic network topologies that have been considered previously for such systems. The scenario used is a hospital ward. Each doctor is equipped with a PDA and each ward or a group of wards with a server providing patient records. As a doctor visits a patient in a ward, the patient's record is accessed from the server onto the PDA. The doctor updates the record and sends the update back to the server.