Wireless Mobile IP Networking

Enabled by

AirBoss Wireless Solutions

Mobile IP Solution

Technical Product Summary

Executive Summary
With the rapid growth and availability of wireless data networks, wireless communications tools and Internet standards, mobile workers are finding new ways to do business in todays competitive environment. The need for the mobile worker to access mission critical information requires access to corporate databases and Internet/Intranet applications. In addition, convenient and reliable file transfer, integrated messaging, and personalized information delivery allow the mobile employee to work at peak productivity levels. Successful communications between mobile workers and their corporate environment requires the right combination of technologies. From a business standpoint, these technologies must be cost-effective and easy to use. For long-term viability, they should be based on open system architectures and industry standard interfaces. Virtual Private Networks have emerged to provide networking solutions to a growing mobile workforce. A Virtual Private Network allows businesses to provide their mobile employees with access to corporate information and applications by connecting them to the enterprise using public networks, such as the Internet. By using public networks as the communications backbone, a Virtual Private Network provides a low cost extension to the enterprise, while offering secure access to an open networking environment.

Telcordia Technologies (formerly Bellcore) AirBoss Wireless Solutions portfolio of wireless data and messaging products offers a Mobile IP solution which provides the foundation to create Virtual Private Networks.

What is a Virtual Private Network?

A Virtual Private Network is created when a mobile user connects a data terminal to a foreign network, either via dial-in or public networks, and establishes a presence equivalent to a direct connection to the home network. The AirBoss Mobile IP solution is intended to enable the creation of Virtual Private Networks by using the Internet as the communications backbone to connect mobile users. The following features characterize Virtual Private Networks:

Remote presence - the ability to establish remote network connections and still appear to be connected to the home network. Network independence - the ability to roam among networks (e.g., BellSouth Wireless Data Network - CDPD - Wireless LAN Ethernet). Traditionally, IP network independence (roaming) is done over the same media access (e.g., SLIP, PPP, Ethernet). Telcordia Technologies Virtual Private Network implementation offers the ability to roam across not only single media IP networks, but across multiple wireless and wireline media without user intervention.

Security - the ability to help create secure channels for authentication, data integrity, and data

privacy. The AirBoss Mobile IP solution is unique in that it provides wireless and wireline IP network and media roaming/communications to both Intranet and Internet services. The ability for mobile users to roam seamlessly and without intervention among radio frequency (RF) networks and wireline networks allows the system to operate at maximum system efficiency.

Mobile IP Description
Traditional implementations of the TCP/IP suite of protocols assume that a nodes IP address uniquely identifies its point of attachment to the Internet. In this environment, a node could maintain continuous connectivity while moving between different networks in one of two ways: 1) the mobile node could alter its IP address every time it moved, or 2) it could have host specific routes propagated to all possible correspondents throughout the Internet. Both of these scenarios are undesirable. Altering the IP address would cause the breakdown of existing transport level connections, while the propagation of host routes causes severe scaling problems, especially with an ever-increasing number of mobile nodes seeking the host node. Mobile IP is an Internet industry standard that enhances the IP protocol to remedy these existing problems and allows transparent routing of IP datagrams to mobile nodes on the Internet. Figure 1 shows a high-level diagram of the AirBoss Mobile IP Network Configuration.

Home Agent 192.4.18.74

A- 192.4.18.124 - Home B- 192.4.18.125 - c/o 198.223.32.86

Mobile Node A Home Address - 192.4.18.124

Wireless Local Area Network (Home Network) 192.4.18.0

Access Point

Wireless Local Area Network Access Point

A io rs B s S e r v e r 192.4.18.32 Generic Router

Internet

Wireless Wide Area Network (Foreign Network) 198.223.32.0

Foreign Agent 198.223.32.86 (Care-of Address)

Access Point

Wireless Wide Area Network Access Point

Mobile Node B Home Address - 192.4.18.125 Care-of Address - 198.223.32.86

Figure 1 - AirBoss Mobile IP Network Configuration

Using the Mobile IP solution, the mobile nodes in Figure 1 are always identified by their permanent home address, regardless of their current point of attachment to the Internet. In addition to this permanent home address, the mobile node, while away from its home network, is also associated with a temporary care-of address, which provides information about the current point of attachment to the Internet. Mobile IP makes the goal of location-transparent communications possible by defining a set of mechanisms for mobile nodes to acquire a care-of address. It also ensures a means by which packets destined for the mobile node (and hence delivered by traditional IP routing mechanisms to the mobile nodes home network) are ultimately forwarded to the present location of the mobile node, as indicated by its current care-of address. The basic element in this protocol is the Mobile Node, also referred to as the mobile host, which roams among its home network and other foreign networks. Mobility is achieved in part by having a host on the mobile nodes home network, called the Home Agent, which is responsible for trapping packets destined to the mobile node, and then forwarding them to the present location of the mobile node, if it is away from home. The present location of the mobile node is in the form of a care-of address. This care-of address is obtained either directly by the mobile node using an external assignment mechanism (i.e., Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol [DHCP]) or from a special node, called a Foreign Agent, which is present on the foreign network and provides mobility services to visiting mobile nodes. Packets are forwarded from the Home Agent to the care-of address by encapsulating and tunneling them to the care-of address. If the care-of address at the end of the tunnel is that of the Foreign Agent, the packets are decapsulated by the Foreign Agent and forwarded by link-level mechanisms locally to the mobile node.

Mobile IP Security
Security is an integral part of building a Virtual Private Network solution. The AirBoss Mobile IP Network Configuration utilizes Mobile IP encryption to form a secure channel between the AirBoss client and server to support user authentication, data integrity, and data privacy in mobile environments. Figure 2 illustrates how a mobile client can securely connect to an application server residing in the mobile clients enterprise or home network through foreign wireless and wireline networks. Using the AirBoss Mobile IP encryption, a secure channel is formed which allows various foreign networks to become extensions of the home network.
AirBoss MIP Client Wireless Network

ISP - B Subnet

AirBoss Server

ISP - A Subnet

Internet
Enterprise Applications

Mobile IP Encryption
Figure 2 - AirBoss Mobile IP Security

Benefits of the AirBoss Mobile IP Solution

The AirBoss Mobile IP solution offers customers the following benefits: Helps to provide secure access to an open networking environment using Mobile IP encryption between the AirBoss client and server Allows mobile workers to establish a remote network presence in a cost efficient manner Intends to enable least-cost routing while providing maximum system efficiency Provides wireless and wireline internetworking Provides seamless roaming across networks without user intervention Offers a low-cost solution for adding mobility to Intranets/Internet

Solutions for Mobility Applications

Telcordia Technologies AirBoss Mobile IP solution can be used to enable seamless roaming between wireless networks to extend enterprise applications to mobile workers. The capabilities provided by the Mobile IP solution creates enhanced services for a variety of vertical applications. Vertical markets, such as trucking and transportation, healthcare, public safety and utilities, have realized the benefits that Mobile IP can offer to improve communications across the enterprise. The AirBoss Mobile IP solution not only provides reliable wireless transport over wide-area networks (i.e., BellSouth Wireless Data Network, CDPD), but allows a mobile data terminal to seamlessly migrate between a wireless wide-area network and a wireless LAN. Figure 3 represents the Mobile IP architecture used in the AirBoss solution to enable wireless mobile database applications:

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Mt oa ba iD l e Ta el rs m i n cib oo nt t h a n WN ils rs eA e L ails ne de W rs W i-a d e A r e N e tr w o k M o d e m s

W ils rs e e W i-a d e A r e N e tr w o k

A io rs B s S e r v e r

Ir nt tn e e

Es ne tp e r r i Ais po pn la it c WN ils rs eA e L AP co c is en st s

LAN
Figure 3 - Enabling Wireless Mobile Database Applications

This solution allows a mobile data terminal to seamlessly migrate between a wireless LAN and a wireless wide-area network (e.g., BellSouth Wireless Data, CDPD). The roaming features enable uninterrupted data service connections between the AirBoss Server and a mobile data terminal, which is also setup to relay data over wireless wide-area networks. While out of range of the wireless local area network, the mobile employee, using a mobile data terminal, has access to enterprise applications over a wireless wide-area network. However, as the mobile data terminal comes into range of the fixed wireless LAN, the AirBoss Mobile IP software automatically migrates to the fixed wireless LAN, allowing cost-effective access to enterprise information. In summary, the Mobile IP solution is intended to provide least-cost routing between a wireless LAN and a wireless wide area network, such as BellSouth Wireless Data or CDPD.

Summary
The success of a corporation in todays competitive environment will depend largely on its ability to increase productivity, while providing the highest level of customer service. Reliable, cost-effective networking solutions will be a critical component of a corporations communications infrastructure. The AirBoss Mobile IP solution is intended to enable enterprises to create their own Virtual Private Networks, thus providing: low initial costs low operating costs solution flexibility significant productivity gains

By providing seamless network roaming and communications capabilities, Mobile IP provides a networking solution to take enterprises into the 21st century and beyond. Telcordia Technologies AirBoss Wireless Solutions... providing data communications solutions for industries on the move.

For more information contact your local sales account representative or call: 1-800-521-2673 (U.S. and Canada) 1-732-699-5800 (in all other countries) Or discover us on the Internet http://www.telcordia.com/airboss

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