Federated service platform solutions for heterogeneous wireless networks

Provisioning of mobile services that arc tailored to the needs, capabilities and (network) environment of users, and are available and maintained in a seamless manner when users are roaming (or changing terminal), is an ambition that requires advanced support functions. We studied such support functions for seamless mobility and tailored IP-connectivity by a federated service platform approach: interoperability issues between the various (network) technologies and administrative domains are solved through cooperation of distributed software components in the service control layer that can run on different hardware (in networks and on terminals) operating in different administrative domains. We have built Service Platform components for the server and client-side to facilitate mobile users equipped with terminals with multi-mode interfaces. Federation between various Service Platform operators and forwarding user credentials enables user or terminal to authenticate on various access networks. This ensures that consistent and coherent service access is provided, independent of the current network domain. The current chapter describes (conceptual and validated) solutions for access network selection, seamless handovers, and authentication in a WLAN/GPRS/Ethernet environment with focus on the federated Service Platform, the client-side, and privacy and trust relationships.