This is important if only because the client end of SOA – and even web services – has not been clearly thought through as yet. There does seem to be a general assumption that end users will be dealing with one service endpoint at a time in a synchronous remote procedure call (RPC) mode, which arguably misses the advantages of flexibility, scalability and asynchrony that mobile devices offer. It is common for developers to implement custom RPC protocols to interface with mobile servers.

But the real advantage of mobile client devices is that they can roam in and out of a virtual infrastructure at a variety of levels (depending on whether they are customer or staff, for example) and discover and utilise services as required. It is this capability that Nokia is targeting with its framework and, in addition, it will also allow mobile devices to become Web service providers as well as consumers. As the power and performance of mobile devices grows, this could be an important capability, particularly as the mobile service providers come closer to both WiFi and the upcoming WiMax service (effectively wide-area high-bandwidth broadband wireless services). In this environment – already being publicly tested in the UK by BT and expected to appear more widely around the world from next year – a staff member's laptop computer could be integrated into a mobile service provider's network and become a web services provider within the businesses infrastructure.

The framework will be available in both J2ME and Symbian C and it puts Nokia in a very competitive position against Microsoft’s .Net Compact Framework 2.0.

www.nokia.com