A seamless solution transparently addresses the characteristics of nomadic
systems, and enables existing network applications to run reliably in
mobile environments. A Mobility Management Server coupled to the mobile
network maintains the state of each of any number of Mobile End Systems
and handles the complex session management required to maintain
persistent connections to the network and to other peer processes. If a
Mobile End System becomes unreachable, suspends, or changes network
address (e.g., due to roaming from one network interconnect to another),
the Mobility Management Server maintains the connection to the associated
peer task--allowing the Mobile End System to maintain a continuous
connection even though it may temporarily lose contact with its network
medium. An interface-based listener uses network point of attachment
information supplied by a network interface to determine roaming
conditions and to efficiently reestablish connection upon roaming. The
Mobility Management Server can distribute lists to Mobile End Systems
specifying how to contact it over disjoint networks.