Opportunities for IP in Communications Beyond 3G

Future communication will be based on TCP/IP as common network and transport layers to provide global connectivity to users and applications. IP is used to provide ubiquitous access across different access networks and exploits the benefits of a common connectivity layer while reducing the cost of operation and maintenance of the network. This paper discusses the opportunities for IP in the evolution towards a future broadband, all-IP mobile communication network. In particular, we argue for three opportunities for the future: Interworking access technologies over IP, IP layer transparency, and the ability to manage complexity.Thomas Toftegaard Nielsen was born on September 26th 1970 in Århus, Denmark. He holds a M.Sc.E.E. (‘95) and a Ph.D. (‘99) degree in mobile radio communications from Aalborg University, Center for PersonKommunikation, Denmark. In 1996, he joined the Danish mobile operator Sonofon, where he was involved in capacity and performance evaluations and enhancements of the frequency hopping GSM BSS system as well as advanced wireless network planning. In 1999 he was appointed senior radio project manager, where he became technically responsible for the GPRS mobile data dimensioning/planning. In 2000 he joined Ericsson Telebit A/S as wireless IP software development manager. Currently he is responsible for Ericsson’s IPv6/IPv4 termination dual-stack used in the Ericsson 2G, 2.5G and 3G terminal platforms, in parts of the Ericsson 2G and 3G access network as well as in the Ericsson MSC and MGW of the 3G core network.Rune Hylsberg Jacobsen was born in Copenhagen, Denmark, on October 12th, 1970. He holds a M.Sc. degree in physics and chemistry (1995) and a Ph.D. degree in physics (1997) from University of Aarhus. In 1996 he guested Bell Laboratories, Lucent Technologies, USA. During this period he conducted research in optoelectronic, terahertz-bandwidth radiation applied to material characterization. In 1997 he joined the R&D unit of the Danish telecommunication operator TDC where he worked on fixed broadband access, with emphasis on ADSL deployment and the characterization of transmission properties of the local loop. In 1999 he joined Ericsson Telebit A/S and started to work on European research projects in the 4th and 5th EU framework programs. He was appointed department manager for a software development unit in year 2000. In this position he was in charge of an IP router development for the radio access network and has since worked with aspects of using IP for wireless communication systems.