It is possible to take this network extension concept further by IP-enabling the fleet of field vehicles and the ‘LAN in a van’ concept. The applications in the LAN physically connect over Ethernet or wireless and communicate back to the central office over IP. The IP connection is handled via routers using similar techniques to extending the reach of the network to fixed locations. Note that applications do not need to understand the underlying communications infrastructure; this is taken care of by the router using techniques such as ‘Mobile IP’.