Broadband interworking architecture (BRAIN) for future mobile multimedia systems

The development and introduction of broadband networks is seen as one of the principal technologies that will provide the necessary capabilities to support the future multimedia mobile systems. The provision of broadband services directly to the home will be a major step in stimulating the market and providing multimedia capabilities directly to the subscriber´s residence. One of the main drivers for the deployment of an advanced broadband network is the very rapid growth of the Internet and the voracious demand for information and entertainment. It is clear that a new mobile broadband infrastructure cannot ignore either the current investment in the mobile communications infrastructure and the advances in corporate IT networks. It is paramount that any `new´ network provides a smooth evolutionary path from the current diverse networks. In order to develop a target architecture for the next generation mobile multimedia networks it is important to understand the capabilities and limitations of the current mobile, fixed and IT networks in conjunction with the new requirements to be placed on the networks. There is increasing activities in all these areas to address the perceived limitations. This paper begins by considering the capabilities and limitation of existing networks and ongoing work to address these limitations. It goes on to propose a broadband interworking architecture (BRAIN) for the UMTS core network and identifies a number of key issues that arise from the discussion