Service-oriented architecture for mobile applications

Mobile phones are becoming a new popular platform for business applications. The number of mobile users increases daily and so does the need for efficient mobile data access and management. However, a traditional approach to business application and database design is not suitable for mobile devices because of the limited memory and connection bandwidth. This paper presents a novel lightweight mobile SOA-based architecture for business applications running on J2ME enabled devices such as cell phones. The paper includes position statement based on our experience and describes a first prototype implementation of the architecture. Some important features of our design are: using the knowledge of business processes to minimize data transferred to and stored on the device; pro-active data loading; allowing applications to fully function in a disconnected mode. The above architecture results in a lightweight framework, which can be used in order to develop a wide spectrum of business-oriented mobile applications.