SUPPORTING COLLABORATIVE APPLICATIONS IN A HETEROGENEOUS MOBILE ENVIRONMENT

This paper describes the implementation and use of a platform designed to support collaborative multimedia applications in a mobile environm ent. The platform provides a programming interface compatible with eme rging open systems standards, and includes services for processing mul timedia information. In addition, the platform provides feedback to ap plications and users on the state of their communications infrastructu re - an important requirement in mobile environments. The services pro vided by the platform have been used to develop a collaborative multim edia application designed to support a specific class of mobile worker , i.e. held engineers. The design decisions taken in our implementatio n of both platform and application are evaluated, and our experiences are presented.