Could a personal avatar juggle our cross-platform lives?

Hewlett-Packard researchers are developing a cloud-based "avatar" to manage all of a user's mobile devices and wireless networks.

Their idea is to give individual users an identity that transcends the many smartphones, tablets, and other devices they may carry, as well as all the Wi-Fi and cellular networks they use in different situations. HP's avatar would pick the best combination of hardware and network for each situation and automatically set up and take down connections, said HP Fellow Paul Congdon, who works in the company's Networking & Communications Lab.

For employees and consumers, getting the avatar might be as easy as downloading a mobile app, but the guts of the system would be a cloud-based software platform that HP could offer as a service to enterprises and carriers. The concept, called Mobile Personal Grid, was one recent development that HP researchers presented at a media event last week.

Help for network managers

The avatar could help enterprises administer BYOD (bring your own device) policies and make life easier for mobile users who want to stay online in the fastest, cheapest way possible, according to HP. Today, much of the effort involved is manual.

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Source: http://www.pcworld.com/article/2026994/could-a-personal-avatar-juggle-our-cross-platform-lives-.html

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