Networking aspects of 3rd generation mobile communications

The evolution of existing mobile networks to accommodate 3rd generation radio interfaces and the setting up of other core networks for the same purpose present the two approaches to future mobile networking. The ETSI, the ITU as well as the European research project RAINBOW are in the process of developing reference models dealing with the aforementioned approaches. This paper presents the alternative solutions to networking for 3rd generation mobile systems while trying to present a unifying paradigm and concluding with a proposal attempting to bring together the alternative approaches into a single framework.