Increasing availability of devices with processing and communication capabilities, such as PDA's and mobile phones, has led to a desire to use various combinations of these devices for new and as yet unrealised operations. Not only are mobile devices expected to offer facilities like email and web browsing but also more demanding operations such as displaying video. Attaining these operations within a stationary environment with good workstations is non-trivial; however many other factors are associated with attaining these tasks in a highly active ad hoc environment. In particular a mean of discovering available devices and enabling manipulation of them within a highly active environment is required. This paper examines the currently available architectures for the detection and manipulation of devices leading to a describing of the novel approach taken by MARE.