South-East European Research Centre (SEERC)

The dawn of the new millennium has found the world in an increasing state of transit. As mobility is becoming the watchword of our civilisation the way we communicate, socialise and do business is being revolutionised. At the forefront of this revolution is the Internet. However, the design of the Internet protocol suite lacks any considerations for mobile computing. The realisation that a significant part of future Internet subscribers will be mobile has initiated a worldwide standardisation effort to produce protocols and mobile architectures that will bring mobility to the Internet. This presentation introduces the “who is who” in Internet and mobile telecommunications standardisation. It gives a discussion on the limitations of Internet protocols to handle mobile users, highlighting past and present trends in bringing mobility to the Internet.