InterDigital and IEEE 802.21 Media Independent Handover (MIH) ...
... an emerging and immature standard just published in January.
>> InterDigital Demonstrates Networking Between 2G/3G Systems, Wi-Fi/Wimax Networks
By Nathesh
TMCnet Contributing Editor
February 25, 2009
InterDigital designs, develops and provides advanced wireless technologies and products that drive voice and data communications.
Company officials add that 802.21 is an IEEE (News - Alert) emerging standard. The standard supports algorithms enabling seamless handover between networks of the same type as well as handover between different network types also called MIH or vertical handover. The standard provides information to allow handing over to and from cellular, GSM, GPRS, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, 802.11 and 802.16 networks through different handover mechanisms. The reason for such a standard to be formulated was because current standards do not support handover between different types of network.
This particular InterDigital demonstration showed the uninterrupted transfer of data when switching between live 3G and Wi-Fi networks, enabled by InterDigital's thin-client middleware loaded onto an off-the-shelf touch-screen Smartphone with 3G (UMTS), Wi-Fi (802.11b/g) and Windows Mobile operating system.
InterDigital officials claim that their middleware has the potential to be a defining solution for the convergence of multiple air interface technologies, including LTE.
Company officials add that the software is used to implement this vertical handover which means that service providers need not worry about heavy increases in networking devices cost while implementing this new standard.
BT Innovate has stated that it supported the demo by supplying remote access to its MIH Information Server in Ipswich, UK, assisting the handovers, as well asBT Mobile 3G roaming on a commercial network in Barcelona, and Wi-Fi service on a public network at the Barcelona Mobile World Congress.
BT officials state that their company believes in future technologies that will provide seamless connection to mobile users who move between different access technologies without any breaks in services. The company is also pleased to present this MIH demo in conjunction with InterDigital that illustrates the kind of services and technology-free access that users can expect in the future. ###
>> InterDigital Demonstrates Media Independent Handover (MIH) Technology at Mobile World Congress, Barcelona
PR SOURCE: InterDigital, Inc
Barcelona, Spain
February 18, 2009
tinyurl.com
InterDigital, Inc. (NASDAQ:IDCC) today announced the successful demonstration of their Media Independent Handover (MIH) solution during the 2009 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona (MWC), Spain. The demonstration - InterDigital's third live trial - confirmed the maturity of the recently published IEEE 802.21 standard, also known as MIH. The MIH specification, approved in November 2008 and published in January 2009, is a new interoperability standard, a simple and reliable solution for seamless networking between 2G/3G cellular systems and WiFi or WiMAX networks and other communications standards.
The demonstration featured uninterrupted data streaming when switching between live 3G and WiFi networks, enabled by InterDigital's thin-client middleware loaded onto an off-the-shelf touch-screen Smartphone with 3G (UMTS) and WiFi (802.11b/g) and Windows Mobile operating system. BT supported the demo by supplying remote access to its MIH Information Server in Ipswich, UK, assisting the handovers, as well as BT Mobile 3G roaming on a commercial network in Barcelona, and WiFi service on a public network at the Congress.
InterDigital's MIH solution reduces handover interruption to less than half a second from more than 10 seconds when using connection manager- or OS-based solutions. In the MWC demonstration, handovers of a data session (streamed from a remote host located in Long Island, NY, USA) from 3G to WiFi were performed using the Network Information Service, while handovers from WiFi to 3G were performed using the WiFi signal strength as the principal criterion.
"This demonstration illustrates the maturity of our MIH middleware, which is poised to be a market-defining solution for the convergence of multiple air interface technologies, including LTE, going forward," said William J. Merritt, President and CEO of InterDigital. "Living up to InterDigital's reputation as a visionary for the wireless industry, we have been pioneering MIH solutions for many years and were key contributors to the development of the 802.21 standard."
"BT is a strong supporter of seamless mobility - where users are able to move between different access technologies without breaks in services. MIH is a candidate technology to support this and we are very pleased to present this demo in conjunction with InterDigital that illustrates the kind of services and technology-free access that users can expect in the future," said Dave Wisely, Head of the Mobility Research Lab, BT Innovate.
In October 2008, InterDigital and BT participated in another demonstration sponsored by the Fixed Mobile Convergence Alliance (FMCA). Under an agreement announced in December 2006, InterDigital and SK Telecom have collaborated on an MIH-based network interoperability solution for SK Telecom's UMTS, WiBro and cdma2000 networks, which was successfully trialed in Q1 2008.
About InterDigital: InterDigital designs, develops and provides advanced wireless technologies and products that drive voice and data communications. InterDigital is a leading contributor to the global wireless standards and holds a strong portfolio of patented technologies which it licenses to manufacturers of 2G, 2.5G, 3G, and 802 products worldwide. Additionally, the company offers a family of SlimChip high performance mobile broadband modem solutions, consisting of Baseband ICs, Embedded Modules, Modem IP and Reference Platforms. InterDigital's differentiated technology and product solutions deliver time-to-market, performance and cost benefits. ###
>> Mobile World Congress: Smart Handovers Slash Wait Times
Richard Martin
VON (The Voice of Network Convergence)
02/18/2009
von.com
Building on the new 802.21 standard from the IEEE, wireless software provider InterDigital Inc. (IDCC) showed off its “Media Independent Handover” (MIH) system for shifting between 3G and Wi-Fi networks today at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.
Until recently, users with dual-mode handsets have been plagued with delays of up to 10 seconds when switching from high-speed cellular networks to Wi-Fi hot zones, and vice versa. Working to close this gap, the IEEE in November 2008 approved the new MIH interoperability standard and published it last month. Staged in partnership with BT, which provided access to a U.K. server plus 3G roaming on a local commercial network in Barcelona, today’s demo was the third live trial of the InterDigital MIH middleware. The MIH system reduces handover delays to less than half a second, InterDigital said. The trial showed that MIH can be “a market-defining solution for the convergence of multiple air interface technologies, including LTE, going forward," said InterDigital CEO William Merritt in a statement.
InterDigital, which also makes hardware for mobile devices and networks, also debuted its new integrated modems for smartphones and sub-laptop mobile Internet devices in Barcelona.
The company, which holds multiple wireless-technology patents, said earlier this month it would end its patent suit against Samsung Electronics after receiving a first installment of the $400 million total payment owed by Samsung for violating InterDigital patents. ###
- Eric - |
