A friend from Germany introduced me to an upcoming trend in the telecommunication industry, that of an Ambient Network. In an increasingly mobile world, we have a lot of networks around us. A network between two phones, a network between a phone and a computer, a network between two computers etc.

An Ambeint Network is basically a network integration solution to the modern-day problems of switching from one network to the other in order to keep in contact with the outside world. This project aims to develop a network software-driven infrastructure that will run on top of all current or future network physical infrastructures to provide a way for devices to connect to each other, and through each other to the outside world.

If you still have’nt grasped what it is about, let’s take this example. I often use my GPRS/EDGE enabled cell phone to connect to the internet using my laptop which has a bluetooth connection. This is how I connect:

Laptop -> ( via Bluetooth) -> Mobile -> (via GPRS/EDGE) -> Mobile phone network

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