Approved for public release, distribution is unlimited / As more and more devices with a variety of capabilities are Internet-capable, device independence becomes a big issue when we would like the information that we request to be correctly displayed. This thesis introduces and compares how existing standards create a profile that describes the device capabilities to achieve the goal of device independence. After acknowledging the importance of device independence, this paper utilizes the idea to introduce a Device-Aware Network (DAN). DAN provides the infrastructure support for device-content compatibility matching for data transmission. We identify the major components of the DAN architecture and issues associated with providing this new network service. A Device-Aware Network will improve the network's efficiency by preventing unusable data from consuming host and network resources. The device profile is the key issue to achieve this goal. / Captain, Taiwan Army