Split Ends

Despite best efforts, 3G parties still aren't united.

There once was a mad fish-erman who blamed star-fish for his poor catches. So he caught every starfish he could and cut them into little pieces and threw them back into the sea. Little did he know that any piece of a starfish that contains a piece of the center could grow into a whole new starfish. Gradually, the sea around him filled with tiny, but growing starfish. In despair, the fisherman threw himself into the sea.

Standards organizations are often like starfish. Although they claim to be interested in unity, their penchant and capacity for reproduction seems limitless. Not many years ago, AMPS from EIA and TIA standards organizations was seen as a shining beacon of compatibility and ubiquity, compared to the multiple flickering candles of analog in Europe. But then the Europeans decided that the major flaw of AMPS was that it wasn't digital, and ETSI invented GSM, the new powerhouse of wireless. Not to be outdone, U.S. providers invented the TDMA digital technology D-AMPS (IS-54 and ANSI-136). However, almost immediately after that decision, a breakaway group decided that CDMA was a better system. After CDMA started to develop a loyal following in the United States and Asia, Europeans started to lust after that technology and began talking about W-CDMA, which is distinguished largely by its incompatibility with U.S. (IS-95) CDMA.

Although the development of 3G technologies is causing major realignments, similar patterns of partial compatibility and even complete incompatibility are being retained.

There are two groups developing standards for 3G systems, confusingly named 3GPP (3G partnership project) and 3GPP2. The 3GPP is home to those weaned on GSM and D-AMPS systems and sees W-CDMA as the ultimate future system. The 3GPP2 is for those fans of cdmaOne (TIA/EIA-95) and cdma2000 (IS-2000). From a network perspective, 3GPP is based on the GSM MAP (Mobile Application Part - the network protocol that binds GSM systems together) with bridges to ANSI-41 to provide compatibility with D-AMPS/ANSI-136 systems. The 3GPP, for example, just became the new global home for GSM standardization, from its previous regional home at ETSI. The 3GPP2, on the other hand, is most focused on ANSI-41 networks, but is interested in compatibility with GSM systems for roaming. The relationship with U.S. standards is tightly wound between its organization and the TIA TR-45 standards committee (with the notable exception of TR-45.3, which standardizes ANSI-136).

GSM Grows Up The 3GPP is a coalition of standards associated with developing a suite of 2.5G to 3G wireless systems derived from GSM and ANSI-136. The major partners are Europe's ETSI, North America's ATIS T1, China's CWTS, Korea's TTA and Japan's TTC and ARIB. The group is organized into several technical specification groups (TSGs):

- TSG-CN for the Core Network will be based on GSM MAP. It'll have some compatibility with ANSI-41 to accommodate the ANSI-136 TDMA community.

- TSG-GERAN has taken over the maintenance of GSM standards from ETSI. This includes GPRS and EDGE. TR-45.3, the ANSI-136 standardization group, also is migrating to support GPRS and EDGE.

- TSG-RAN is developing the true 3G radio-access-networks, known as UTRAN and W-CDMA.

- TSG-T is responsible for 3G-terminal standards, including both the mobile equipment and the UIM (smart card).

- TSG-SA is titled "Services and System Aspects" and is responsible for the definition of services and capabilities as well as coordination with and between other TSGs.

3GPP2: Little Brother Soon Follows IS-95 CDMA proponents realized that if their favorite technology were labeled as 2.5G, the world would swing quickly toward W-CDMA as a sole standard. This would leave companies (largely in the Americas and Asia) that had made major investments in IS-95 systems stranded with networks incompatible with the rest of the world. Although ETSI invited them to join 3GPP, they instead decided to create 3GPP2 as a place where their standardization could occur, hoping that a new multinational organization would avoid the "Made in the USA" label of TIA standards such as IS-95.

Confusingly enough, not only does 3GPP2 have a similar name, but it has almost the same group of partners - ARIB and TTC from Japan, TTA from Korea and CWTS from China. The major difference is that ETSI, the initiator of 3GPP, is replaced by the TIA in 3GPP2. This seems strange, but in China, Japan and Korea, there's an internal split between companies allied with 3GPP (such as NTT) and those allied with 3GPP2 (such as the recently merged IDO/KDD/DDI). To add to the confusion, 3GPP2 also has divided its standardization responsibilities into TSGs. Most of these have a sibling relationship with a TIA TR-45 subcommittee and usually meet during the same week and in the same location:

- TSG-A defines the "A" interface between the base stations and MSCs and is aligned with TIA TR-45.4 that initiated this work several years ago.

- TSG-C defines the cdma2000 radio interface and is closely allied with TR-45.5, which is responsible for cdmaOne (IS-95 and ANSI-95). This is parallel to the work being done by TSG-RAN in 3GPP.

- TSG-P is responsible for the definition of packet-data standards and is closely associated with TR-45.6, which got its start converting CDPD from an industry-consortium document to a standard.

- TSG-S is responsible for the definition of features and capabilities, and plays a parallel coordination role to 3GPP's TSG-SA and the TIA's TR-45.

- TSG-N is responsible for the development of network standards, including the WIN and the ANSI-41 backbone network protocol. It meets with TR-45.2 and also is associated with TR-45.2's Working Group V, which meets separately and has TIA responsibility for WIN standards.

- TSG-R was given the responsibility to develop interfaces to 3GPP radio-access technologies, but currently has no meeting plans, indicating that a merger between 3GPP and 3GPP2 standards is not likely anytime soon.

- "All IP" is not formally a TSG, but a group that is trying to define a future 3G system based totally on IP protocols from the radio interface, down to the transmission of voice, signaling and data through the network.

Is the Starfish Population Increasing? It was perhaps too much to ask for the world to give up its regional interests entirely and settle on a single 3G wireless standard. Optimistically, the presence of only two 3G-standardization groups is a positive sign, compared to the many groups creating formal or de facto standards for first- and second-generation systems. And, with both groups working cooperatively on the same 3G security standards, and with both groups having an interest in GSM MAP/ANSI-41 interoperability, it may be possible to significantly enhance the level of services provided to international roamers who do dare to cross the 3GPP/3GPP2 boundary. If only we can stop the mad fisherman from slicing and dicing, the world may be only one step - well maybe two steps - away from a truly universal and ubiquitous wireless world.