MWIF discusses IP-wireless convergence, standards developments

Kansas City, July 10, 2001 – Bringing mobile and Internet technologies closer together as carriers prepare to launch disparate 3G networks is the goal of the Mobile Wireless Internet Forum (www.mwif.org), which held its quarterly meeting in Kansas City, MO, this week. At the meeting, MWIF released a report, “IP in the RAN within 3rd Generation Mobile Systems MTR-006 Version 2.” The report suggests solutions to some of the technical challenges of integrating IP with wireless networks. It addressed the impact of IP on universal terrestrial radio access networks (UTRAN), being developed by 3GPP ( www.3gpp2.org) for cdma2000 (3GPP2-RAN). MWIF’s overall goal is to speed adoption of next-generation mobile and wireless Internet solutions through complementary standards work alongside such organizations at 3GPP, 3GPP2 and the IETF (www.ietf.org). The report is the result of nine months of member input, group collaboration, industry comment and survey work. At the meeting, keynote speaker Steve Deering discussed the state of the Internet today and its integration with mobility. Deering, IETF chair and Cisco (www.cisco.com) lead designer, invented IP multicasting and IPv6. The Internet, Deering said, has gotten fat in its “middle age,” and needs to be slimmed down by refocusing on common network functionality. Ipv6 will exponentially increase the number of available Internet addresses – a primary concern for the wireless data industry, which will flood the Internet with new IP-enabled devices as usage increases. Deering identified other challenges to Internet efficiency, such as an overpopulation of “middle boxes,” web caches and content-based routing. “If we can evolve to IPv6, we can restore simplicity and add functionality, which sounds like a contradiction, but it isn’t,” Deering said. Simplicity will be more attainable if a recent push for greater cooperation between the computing and wireless industries at the standards level is successful. Deering said a recent meeting between 3GPP and IETF in Seattle was “very educational for both sides. I learned a lot.” Deering identified three key drivers of IPv6 for mobile networks: new applications such as gaming and in-vehicle telematics, new mobile markets such as China and the unlikely possibility that Microsoft (www.microsoft.com) may decide to build IPv6 into its next version of Windows, XP. Seamless mobility was another theme at the meeting. The ultimate goal is to create a standard that would enable IPv6 transmissions of data calls to hand off without losing packets – even between currently incompatible air interface technologies such as GSM and CDMA. Kansas City-based member company Sprint PCS (www.sprintpcs.com) hosted the MWIF meeting. The organization was founded in January 2000, to drive acceptance and adoption of mobile wireless and Internet architectures. Its more than 75 member companies include Alcatel (www.alcatel.com), Compaq (www.compaq.com), Hewlett Packard (www.hewlettpackard.com), IBM (www.ibm.com), KDDI (www.kddi.com), Lucent (www.lucent.com), Motorola (www.Motorola.com), Nokia (www.nokia.com), Openwave (www.openwave.com), Qualcomm (www.qualcomm.com), SK Telecom (www.sktelecom.com), Sun Microsystems (www.sun.com), Toshiba (www.Toshiba.com), Vodafone (www.vodafone.com), Intel (www.intel.com)and Sonera (www.sonera.com).