In many cases users of mobile computers wish to have the same applications running and to have access to the same information as they would when connected to a fixed network. Such transparency is difficult to realise given the differences in the fundamental characteristics of wired and wireless links. These differences, apparent in variations in parameters such as delay, throughput and error rate can have a significant impact on demanding applications such as those which exploit multimedia communications. To overcome these problems, application requirements have to be adapted to match the capabilities of the wireless communication link. One general method of achieving this is the introduction of one or more proxies between the distributed components. This paper presents a generalised architecture for installing and managing proxies in the network in order to enable applications to continue operation in the face of variations in quality of service. The developed architecture is based on the CORBA standard to improve flexibility and acceptance.
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