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Question (2.5G and 3G): An all IP layer within the GGSN ?

2001-03-14 03:30:02
Hi all

I was wondering if something I have been thinking about makes any
sense.

This concerns the upcoming (or so they say, the operators have
been postponing the roll-out dates for the past one year) 2.5G
and 3G networks (GPRS and UMTS/W-CDMA).

Now, within a GPRS network, since the GGSN would be the bridging
factor between the SGSN and the internet at large, and will
include key functionalities like dishing out IP addresses to the
GPRS handsets (via DHCP), will it make sense to have a mega IP
management layer implemented real-time within the GGSN which will
include functionalities like - efficient IP address management
agents, quality of service, mobile IP support, multicast support
layers, etc. ? I was also thinking of whether a IP proxy system
in the GGSN which will act on behalf of the handset and which
will let the handset remain dormant at will and not go into the
PDP mode at the slightest amount of data would make sense. This
way the handset may wish *not* to go into the PDP mode for a said
period of time and the IP proxy system will be collecting all the
incoming data for the handset.  This may be useful for example
when one if trying to download a file and knows that he/she will
be moving into an area with poor radio coverage for the next few
10s of minutes. He/she may then start the download and relegate
the operation to the proxy.  In addition, I thought transition
and tunneling tools for IPv6<->IPv4 at the GGSN would also be
nice.

Also, would it make sense to put a WAP gateway within the IP
layer itself implying that we do not dedicate a server machine
for the WAP gateway but make it an integral part of the GGSN
itself running on a real time OS.  Now, I know that WAP in its
current version is not the best we can have and has lots of flaws
(foremost of which is that it breaks the end-to-end model of the
internet), but, with WAP 2.0, it promises to be totally IP based
and will use XHTML for the data format.  Now, in such a scenario
it will become more of a data validation engine and some sort of
content repurposing gateway to suit the various mobiles.

Has anyone thought of or working on implementing an IP layer
inclusive of a WAP gateway along with efficient mobile IP
management functions ?

-- 
/amlan





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