System Architecture Evolution - Multiple Access Networks

Multiple Access Networks

The UE can connect to the EPC using several access technologies. These access technologies are composed of:

  • 3GPP accesses: these access technologies are specified by the 3GPP. They include GPRS, UMTS, EDGE, HSPA, LTE and LTE Advanced.
  • non-3GPP accesses: these access technologies are not specified by the 3GPP. They include technologies such as cdma2000, WiFi or fixed networks. 3GPP specifies two classes of non-3GPP access technologies with different security mechanisms:
    • trusted accesses, that the network operator consider trustable from a security stand point (for example: a cdma2000 network). Trusted non-3GPP accesses interface directly with the network.
    • untrusted accesses, that the network operator doesn't consider trustable from a security stand point (for example, a connection over a public WiFi hotspot). Untrusted non-3GPP accesses are connected to the network via an ePDG, which provide additional security mechanisms (IPsec tunneling).

It is up to the network operator to decide whether a non-3GPP access technology is trusted or untrusted.

It is worth noting that these trusted/untrusted categories do not apply to 3GPP accesses.

Read more about this topic:  System Architecture Evolution

Famous quotes containing the words multiple, access and/or networks:

    There is a continual exchange of ideas between all minds of a generation. Journalists, popular novelists, illustrators, and cartoonists adapt the truths discovered by the powerful intellects for the multitude. It is like a spiritual flood, like a gush that pours into multiple cascades until it forms the great moving sheet of water that stands for the mentality of a period.
    Auguste Rodin (1849–1917)

    The last publicized center of American writing was Manhattan. Its writers became known as the New York Intellectuals. With important connections to publishing, and universities, with access to the major book reviews, they were able to pose as the vanguard of American culture when they were so obsessed with the two Joes—McCarthy and Stalin—that they were to produce only two artists, Saul Bellow and Philip Roth, who left town.
    Ishmael Reed (b. 1938)

    The community and family networks which helped sustain earlier generations have become scarcer for growing numbers of young parents. Those who lack links to these traditional sources of support are hard-pressed to find other resources, given the emphasis in our society on providing treatment services, rather than preventive services and support for health maintenance and well-being.
    Bernice Weissbourd (20th century)