The Book of Visions 2000 – Visions of the Wireless World

Mobile communication systems and the Internet are key technologies for the development of the information society, in which access to applications and services of high quality is provided in a seamless manner so that the user is not aware of the nature of the underlying network technologies. Wireless systems beyond 3G will contribute to the implementation of such a user-friendly communication platform by the integration of different access networks and the convergence of mobile and fixed networks. The IST project BRAIN, which is partly funded by the European Commission, is working on an open architecture which allows to integrate second and third generation cellular systems and broadband radio access systems through a common IP network platform. Horizontal and vertical handover between these systems provide seamless service. This paper gives an overview about the work carried out in the BRAIN project and outlines how the BRAIN is contributing to the development of systems beyond 3G. 3.3.1 Current trends and visions The Advisory Group of the IST Programme (ISTAG) of the European Commission describes in its report “Orientation for Workprogramme 2000 and beyond” [1] a vision for the work which will be carried out under the IST Programme. This vision highlights the importance of mobile communications and network infrastructures and promotes the rapid and complete convergence of fixed and mobile applications and services. The UMTS Forum shares also this vision by stating that the foundation of the development for the information society is laid by the convergence of communications, information, entertainment, commerce and computing [2]. These views are based on observations of market trends and current and emerging technological developments. Mobile phone growth has been exponential in the last decade and is supposed to continue at this pace. The number of users of mobile services worldwide will be higher than 400 million by the year 2000 and will grow up to more than 1700 million by 2010. Advanced mobile multimedia services are becoming available with the deployment of second and third generation of mobile systems. These systems will provide high bandwidth of up to 2 Mbps.