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To: gdichaz who wrote (37123)	12/28/2000 2:45:43 PM
From: Eric L	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 54805

Cha2, << GRX will be one of the keys to GSM/GPRS's success. Would you be kind enough to explain please. >> Data roaming. Access our data feed(s) anytime, anyplace, anywhere. The GRX is the GPRS Roaming Exchange - an IT network that connects GPRS networks around the world [like] the IT networks out there today which connect all of the Intranets and Internets around the world, so whenever you surf you're using an IT-based backbone. GSMA will use similar kinds of backbones to connect the GPRS networks together so GPRS roaming can take place. Things are moving quickly. Article below: >> Sonera Pushes GRX Roaming with PCCW Trial Emily Bourne Total Telecom 04 December 2000 Finnish operator Sonera and Hong Kong's PCCW have demonstrated what they claim is the first roaming call between GPRS networks using the GPRS roaming exchange (GRX) solution. At the ITU Telecom Asia 2000 conference in Hong Kong, the operators hooked up their home GPRS networks to a GRX developed by Sonera, via local loop connections provided by Equant. "This is a crucial step to make sure roaming happens in the packet environment," Sonera chief technology officer Jari Mielonen told Total Telecom. The company considers GRX to be the ultimate solution for 3G roaming, since it is based on IP. There will be several GRX providers, said a spokesman for Sonera, with large international mobile operators opting to establish their own global roaming network. But the Finnish company is keen to develop connections between separate GRXs, and has an announcement of trial roaming between GRXs in the bag for the near future, he added. The MOU with PCCW currently only covers the trial, after which the operators will look for a formal tie-up. Sonera's challenge now is to back up its technological lead with commercial deals with mobile operators, the company spokesman said. Sonera is already in talks with U.S., European and Asian operators, and believes that, when GPRS networks are launched on a large scale next year, the roaming issue will become crucial. Now it has been tested in Asia, "it is going to be a global standard," said Mielonen. Sonera formally launched its GPRS network in Finland last week, and plans to open it commercially on 11 December. PCCW launched its service in November. The Hong Kong operator already provides GPRS roaming in Singapore with SingTel Mobile and Mobile One, and has international GPRS roaming agreements in place with 60 operators. GRX is a private IP routing network for mobile data roaming. It is intended as an alternative to point-to-point roaming between GPRS and 3G networks. The Sonera GRX is based on the IR.34 standard laid down by the GSM Association. To date, 19 operators, including Cable & Wireless, UUNet and Global Crossing, have endorsed GRX, though they are generally at a "very early stage" as far as technological development is concerned, said a Sonera spokesman. << - Eric -

To: gdichaz who wrote (37123)	12/28/2000 2:59:39 PM
From: Eric L	Respond to of 54805

Cha2, Re: GRX << GRX will be one of the keys to GSM/GPRS's success. Would you be kind enough to explain please. >> More in this earlier article: >> GPRS Roaming Standard Will Come at a Price Joanne Taaffe CWI 13 November 2000 A group of international network operators has set about creating an alternative Internet for GPRS operators' international roaming traffic. The operators - including Cable & Wireless, UUnet and Global Crossing-plan to roll out Internet Protocol networks based on a new standard called GRX, dedicated to networks transmitting GPRS roaming traffic, defined by the GSM Association, of London. GRX will carry international data traffic from one mobile operator's network to another. Currently, the roaming structure depends on a chaotic network of separate leased lines between mobile and fixed network operators. But mobile operators using GRX are likely to force GPRS users to continue to make international dial-up calls when accessing the Internet or intranets from abroad. Roaming customers will otherwise have to make cheaper calls through local ISPs in the country. "If (the customer only) accesses a local ISP it won't generate (international) roaming traffic," said Carlo Dietaker, director of marketing, sales and roaming for Comfone Limited, a mobile roaming services management company which intends to offer GRX services. As a result "(Mobile) operators ... could block local access (to ISPs) and route the calls back home (across the GRX,)" said Dietaker. "The call will probably be brought back to the home carrier," said John Hoffmann; senior director of technical evolution for the GSM Association. "From a security and billing standpoint." The GRX standard is meant to replace the roaming infrastructure that grew up, higgledy-piggledy, around GSM voice services. GSM roaming currently depends on bilateral agreements established between individual operators using leased lines. While such an approach works if there are only 40 GSM operators worldwide, it proves unwieldy as the number climbs into the hundreds. "We never expected (GSM) to be a global network with 350 operators around the world," said Hoffmann. The result has been the development of a network of leased lines which resembles "spaghetti stuff" said Hoffmann. The GRX networks will interconnect with each other to create a tier of the Internet through which mobile operators can securely exchange IP traffic generated by their roaming customers. The GSM Association said 18 operators have so far agreed to comply with the GRX standard (see table.) Later this month operators who plan to offer GRX services will meet to hammer out how their respective GRX networks will interconnect with each other-one of the possibilities being the Internet peering model. And even if they give mobile operators a secure IP network, GRX operators have yet to tackle how a roaming customer accesses the Internet, or an intranet, when in a foreign country. The problem already exists for customers dialing into fixed networks from a laptop computer. "IP roaming (over fixed IP networks) is a bit of a disaster. We have an ad-hoc and proprietary approach," said Dr Iain Stevenson, a consultant at Ovum Limited, London. Comfone's Dietaker believes, however, that market forces will eventually push operators to offer local dial-up access to ISPs, no matter where their customer is. Already France Telecom is intending to enable its corporate mobile customers to make local calls into an IPVPN when they roam in those countries where France Telecom has subsidiaries with GPRS networks, said Yves Tyrode, director of France Telecom's mobile Internet for business division. Otherwise "they will call back to the mother country if they are not with a France Telecom partner," added Tyrode. Competition will also shake up the GRX market. Although 18 operators want to move into GRX service provision, Hoffmann expects the number of GRX providers to drop dramatically over the next couple of years. The battle will be fought over value-added services, since any IP network operator can offer GRX services, making GRX networks "a commodity in two years," according to Dietaker. << - Eric -