re: M-Services & GSMA "Fast Track Task Forces"
Task forces:
- roaming (TAP3 Transferred Account Procedure Billing Standard )
- interoperability
- terminal certification
- wireless LAN and Bluetooth connectivity
- network security
- E2E Taskforce for Operator requirements for GPRS Features and Services.
See more here:
Message 17125180
E2E Roadmap of Operator Requirements for GPRS Features and Services here:
Message 17125194
>> 3GSM’s Final Note
March 1, 2002
By: Dan Sweeney
America's Network Weekly
<snip HiperLAN2 802.16 stuff >>
Elsewhere on the standards front, the GSM Association reaffirmed its commitment to the M-Service Initiative. The M-Services Initiative was launched by the association in June 2001 to provide a single nonproprietary platform for the development of wireless services -- one featuring common delivery mechanisms, intuitive menus, and ease of use. The initiative applies primarily to the handset and will, it is hoped, standardize many aspects of functionality and subscriber interactions.
The initiative has already received widespread operator support worldwide, and participants include AT&T Wireless, Cingular, Vodafone, Telefonica, Telecom Italia Mobile, NTT DoCoMo, and the Orange Group.
According to Bill Clift, chief technology officer for Cingular, the aim of the M-Services Initiative is to promote "a consistent customer experience" that will serve as catalyst for the mass market adoption of data-enabled handsets.
Coextensive with the M-Services Initiative are the activities of a number of "fast track task forces" formed by the association to address certain key issues relating to mobile data of 3G.
Several of these task forces, including those concerned with roaming, interoperability, terminal certification, and wireless LAN and Bluetooth connectivity, reported on the progress of their programs at the GSM Congress.
The roaming task force is concerned with establishing standards analogous to those for voice roaming for data service roaming. At the same time, this group is working on inter-standard roaming protocols that would permit roaming between GSM and CDMA networks.
Key to resolving roaming issues is the promotion of the TAP3 Transferred Account Procedure Billing Standard which is intended to cover every conceivable billing scenario level at the wholesale settlement level.
A particular difficulty here is that not only will network operators be involved, as in traditional voice and short messaging services, but also a host of application services providers and content providers who are expected to figure prominently in the delivery of the 3G service offerings.
The formation of a task force dealing with local area and personal area networks in regard to 3G represents an acknowledgment that public access via wireless LAN and PAN connections is a growing business and likely will become commonplace within a few years.
Today’s challenges are to determine how to incorporate wireless LAN functionality into a dual-use mobile handset, and how to differentiate broadband access via wireless LAN access points and the fully mobile data services associated with 3G. This particular task force is still in the early stages of forming recommendations.
In addition, the association identified specific areas for service development during the conference proceedings. These include location and traffic, roadside assistance, unified messaging, multimedia messaging, customized information services and mobile office services.
Another discussion group considered the issue of network security and the anticipated problems with increased hacker activity as the amount of data traffic across mobile networks grows. According to a spokesperson for the Finnish F-Secure Corp., the penetration of mobile data networks is now frequent topic of discussion at European hacker Web sites.
In summation, proceedings of the congress indicate that the industry overall is now focusing on comprehensive standards based platforms for both service creation and network management in order to introduce mass service offerings successfully. In an industry, i.e. mobile data, hitherto characterized by ad hoc solutions and proprietary middleware, surely this is encouraging. <<
- Eric - |
