Changing demographics and the popularity of laptop computers are fueling an explosive growth in mobile applications. Many organizations are decentralizing parts of their companies to save money and provide employees with a more flexible work environment. In addition, workers increasingly use computers when away from the office. According to Dataquest 1998 Mobile Computing Forecast (gartner12.gartnerweb.com/dq/), the mobile computing market is expected to grow more than 18 percent per year by 2002.
Increasingly, people use computers when they are on the road. For example, sales personnel might use a computer to enter orders, update customer information, or manipulate financial information. When they reconnect to the network, new or updated information must be merged into the enterprise databases. Similarly, any changes made to the enterprise databases while the user was offline must be copied to the user's computer. The application logic that is required to synchronize the multiple databases can be complex. For example, the application must resolve conflicts if two remote users update the same information independently while offline.
This chapter describes why Microsoft SQL Server version 7.0 offers a compelling database and development architecture for implementation and administration of mobile applications. It also compares SQL Server 7.0 functionality with that of another product for mobile applications, Sybase Adaptive Server Anywhere 6.0.