Using Prospero to Support Integrated Location-Independent Computing

As computers become pervasive, users will access processing, storage, and communication resources from locations that have not been practical in the past. Such users will demand support for location-independent computing. While the basic system components used might change as the user moves from place to place, the appearance of the system should remain constant.

In this paper we discuss the role of, and requirements for, directory services in support of integrated, location-independent computing. We focus on two specific problems: the server selection problem and the user location problem. We present solutions to these problems based on the Prospero Directory Service. The solutions demonstrate several unique features of Prospero that make it particularly suited for support of location-independent computing.