Application Middleware: A Case Study
S. Srbljic, Darko Huljenić, Bjorn Dellas, Antun Carić, Ivan Benc, I. Skuliber, M. Stefanec, Daniel Šimić, A. Milanovic, Franjo Plavec, Igor Grudenić, Domagoj Krišto, Goran Radić, Dražen Klarić, Miroslav Mihaljević · 2002
In the last decade we are witnesses of merging telecommunication and computer industries, and the birth of the information and communications technology (ICT) business. So far, telecommunication industry provided infrastructure and voice-based services. On the other hand, computer industry provided applications and services based on data transfer. With an extensive growth of the Internet and Internet-oriented services and applications, merge between the two worlds became an imperative. Newborn ICT industry is focused on bringing services to clients wherever they are and whichever device they are using. Services are becoming even more interesting with the introduction of mobile access to the global network. New protocols, such as WAP, enable 24/7 access to the services that were primarily designed for non-mobile users. Since service and content providing is becoming main source of revenues, rapid service development is an imperative in merciless market competition. Every content provider that hosts services which offer content to the users must have an infrastructure that enables content offering, customer care and billing. Development of the required infrastructure is long and expensive process that yields with low or no profit. As for service providers and developers, non-collaborative services have negative impact on end users.