Computing Everywhere ... Connected Everything

Microsoft's Universal Plug and Play Very similar to Jini, Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) is an architecture for pervasive peer-to-peer network connectivity of intelligent appliances, wireless devices, and PCs of all form factors. It is designed to bring easy-to-use, flexible, standards-based connectivity to any kind of network, whether in the home, in a physician's office, in the emergency room, or attached to the Internet. Universal Plug and Play is a distributed, open networking architecture. This means that any device can participate regardless of the operating system or network design. It leverages TCP/IP (the network protocol used by the Internet) and the Web technologies to enable seamless proximity networking in addition to control and data transfer among networked devices in the home and office. UPnP works very similar to Jini. This means a device can dynamically join a network, obtain an IP address, convey its capabilities upon request, and learn about the presence and capabilities of other devices.