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Reviewer: Girish Mundada

Pervasive or ubiquitous computing is the convergence of communications, computers, entertainment, and media. In an economic sense, it is the embedding of inexpensive computing, storage, and communication capabilities into a vast range of devices, from home appliances such as refrigerators and washing machines, to automotive equipment, such as navigation and diagnostic systems. This book provides a broad overview of devices, technology, and services that deliver this “anytime anywhere” pervasive computing platform. The authors have partitioned the contents into five broad segments: devices, software, connecting the pervasive world, back-end server infrastructure, and new services. Each chapter covers a specific aspect of the technology and can be read nearly independently. At the end of each chapter, there are Internet links for further readings. The devices chapters provide good evidence of how personal, information, entertainment, and business computing devices are becoming omnipresent. There is a very graphic description of information access devices like PDAs and smart phones. The other devices illustrated include game consoles like PS2 and XBOX, car navigation systems, home appliances like refrigerators, heating and air-conditioning, entertainment systems, and set-top boxes. If you have ever wondered how the smart identification technology in smart cards and smart labels used in library and electronic article surveillance works, this book will answer most of your questions. In later chapters, the coverage on smart cards is developed further in sections on Java cards, Windows for smart cards, and smart card programming. The software section provides a glossary-like overview of Java and Java variants, WebTV and the JavaTV API framework, and operating systems used for these devices. There is also a simple summary of security in Internet communication and cryptography methods. The overview will be useful for readers with limited experience in software technologies. The chapters grouped under the section “Connecting the World” provide an interesting and thorough overview of phone- line, power-line, and a good 50-page state-of-the-art description of wireless technologies to interconnect devices. The overview packs in information about wireless standards from Bluetooth, infrared protocols to GPRS, and IMT2000. There is also a brief overview of standard markup languages—HTML, XML, and WML—and the WAP architecture for mobile phones. The remaining chapters provide a very concise overview of the service deployment and support for these devices in about 70 pages. They are grouped under back-end infrastructure and new services. The gateways and portals for devices like Palm and WAP phones, device management concept, synchronization between mobile devices and servers, and markup language SyncML for synchronization, all find a place. The final chapters concern how some companies are deploying new travel, shopping, and business services for WAP phones and Palm devices. In the section on new services, I would have liked to read about NTT's DoCoMo, though the authors provide Internet links on this subject. The book is a good starting point for someone wanting to get an overview of pervasive computing technologies. The book will be useful for anyone wanting to understand how these devices are being integrated into the IT infrastructure. Online Computing Reviews Service