Skip to main content

IAB Wireless Workshop
charter-ietf-iww-01

Document Charter IAB Wireless Workshop WG (iww)
Title IAB Wireless Workshop
Last updated 2003-12-10
State Approved
WG State Concluded
IESG Responsible AD Stephen J. Coya
Charter edit AD (None)
Send notices to (None)

charter-ietf-iww-01

Wireless technology, including wireless LANs, data transfer over
cellular radio (GSM, 3GPP, etc), and mobile operations from aircraft
and
near earth spacecraft are becoming increasingly important. Some market
projections suggest that a mobile Internet in parallel with or
augmenting the wired Internet may be comparable in size to the wired
Internet as early as 2003.

The wireless operators have not, however, chosen to use IP4, TCP, full
HTTP/HTML, and other applications for a variety of reasons. These
relate
to edge device cost, bandwidth limitations, perceived protocol
imperfections, unnecessary complexities, the chattiness of the
application protocols, and network layer addressing issues.
Unfortunately, this creates some serious issues at the wired/wireless
demarcation: end to end operation is sacrificed, security is
compromised, and automated content modification in some form becomes
necessary. The IAB considers these to be serious fundamental issues,
which will in time be a serious impediment to the usability of the
combined Internet if not addressed.

The IAB, on Feb 29-March 2, held an invitational workshop, hosted by
Bob
Hinden at Nokia. The workshop was to discuss this, determine what the
legitimate issues are, and make recommendations to the wireless
operators, IRTF, and IETF on the architectural road map for the next
few
years. The fundamental question addressed is "what are the issues, and
what really needs to be done to unify the Internet below the
application
layer." Applications will also need to be addressed, but were perceived
to be more than could be usefully discussed in a three-day workshop,
and
probably require different expertise.

The intent of this BOF is to present a preliminary report on the
results, and discuss that report.