WHEN IS 3G NOT 3G?
by Nicki Hayes, July 25, 2002
3G will not be 3G until 2005 apparently. But fear not you application developers. A
new audit will help you meet the complexities of 3G up to 2005 and beyond. WDN’s Nicki Hayes explains.
Application developers underestimate the complications of designing for third generation
mobile networks (3G) - they will be shocked to find that operators will run separate parts
of their networks for voice and data until perhaps 2005 and beyond, apparently. But, fear
not, a new service being launched by UK based consultancy Glencroft will help
developers audit their applications to ensure they meet European operators’ requirements.
The last thing that operators want is to be inundated with applications that have only been
tested on a terminal simulator according to Frank Domoney the founder of Glencroft and
a veteran network planning manager with experience gained working with the likes of
Vodafone, Hutchison 3G and Nokia Networks:
“Many applications are designed on a simulator to run over an IP (Internet
Protocol) network - which is what 3G will eventually offer. What many
developers don't realize is that there are three flavors of 3G and the first, R99 will
run voice over the circuit switched networks, and data over packet switched. A
fully all IP multimedia network won't be available until the implementation of R5,
which may not be for several years,'” he explained.
Roger Goscomb, program manager for Cambridge 3G, is leading the development of one
of Europe's first live 3G application test beds. He welcomes Glencroft’s audit as he
believes that this is a good first step and will save developers expense down the line.
''If the application fits on the operators' roadmap and it is commercially sound
then operators will pay for the application development. Competition is stiff
however, it is not unknown for operators to receive several thousand applicants
and take just a couple through to development. Mobile is also a global market
and this can create complications; some applications will only sell in the Far East
for example,' he advised.
These are exactly the type of issues that Glencroft’s audit looks at, but what else can
application developers expect from this service?
“3G Protocols and IP enable the network to react flexibly to the user's demands
and will supply the higher bandwidths demanded by applications with multimedia
content, such as games or video. Developers should be careful not to over
estimate the amount of bandwidth that will be available to an application in the
early years. For example, GPRS, which is an interim before the introduction of
3G, in theory offers 171 kbps but in reality the user may only have access to
25kbps or less.
“Mobile networks are also difficult to design for as they combine the problems of
the internet - delays and routing problems - with the problems of the mobile - loss
of signal, handovers, and congestion. Networks are continuously evolving and
consist of different generations of network plumbing at the same time. You need
to develop applications with the resilience and automatic recovery to overcome
these issues,' advised Frank who has end-to-end experience of the mobile
environment from handset and applications development to network specification
and design,” advised Frank
Developers interested in the 3G market could do worse than looking at Frank’s white
paper, ‘The Glencroft Guide to Mobile Application. Glencroft’s audit service aims to
help application developers take a structured approach to meeting the criteria of
operators. It provides a technical audit of the application, positions it within the
development life cycle and advises on how to take the development further and make it
robust enough to be attractive to operators. The white paper outlines all the main issues
that need to be addressed in doing this and is available from Glencroft by telephoning
+44 7887 804660.
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About the author:
Nicki Hayes is The Wireless Developer Network's (www.wirelessdevnet.com) European correspondent and the part-time judge part-time jester of its new online debate -
Holding Court. Nicki also takes on freelance writing and corporate communication projects relating to business to business internet and wireless issues and has
contributed editorial to a number of publications including Unstrung.com, Wireless Business & Technology, Guardian Online, Financial Times, Banking &
Financial Training, eAI Journal and Secure Computing.
About the WirelessDevNet (www.wirelessdevnet.com):
The Wireless Developer Network is an on-line community for information technology
professionals interested in mobile computing and communications. Our mission is to assist
developers, strategists, and managers in bridging the gap between today's desktop and
enterprise applications and tomorrow's mobile users communicating via wireless networks.
We are interested in supporting the deployment of these evolving technologies through
high-quality technical information, news, industry coverage, and commentary. This
information is provided within a true on-line community that supports developer/vendor
dialogue through message boards and user-submitted tips, articles, links, and software
downloads.
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